hésitant
\e.zi.tɑ̃\
The verdict
“hésitant” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #20,162. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #20,162
- frequency rank, French
- 1,969
- “H” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui hésite, qui est incertain.
Corpus desk
Index FR-hesitant · hésitant · French
hésitant · rank #20,162 · 13 variants · 6 confusables
- FREQ-MID #20,162
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 13 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,969
- PHOTO-FINISH hélice
Nearest frequency peer: hélice (-1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “hésitant”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- hurlant
hurlant
79,842 corpus weight
- hype
hype
79,841 corpus weight
- hélice
hélice
79,840 corpus weight
- hésitant
hésitant
79,839 corpus weight
- iceberg
iceberg
79,838 corpus weight
- idéologies
idéologies
79,837 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “hésitant” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hésitant |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \e.zi.tɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #20,162 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Où “hésitant” se place dans la fréquence du français
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around hésitant (IPA \e.zi.tɑ̃\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #20,162 among 1,969 “H” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Qui hésite, qui est incertain.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for hésitant, with forms such as "hesitant", "hhésitant", and "hséitant". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "hésitent", "hésitante", "hésita", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is hésitant, spelled H-É-S-I-T-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Qui hésite, qui est incertain.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hésitant appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Tout lui coûtait un effort. Perpétuellement somnolent et perpétuellement obligé d’agir, il ne sortait pas de la mauvaise humeur découragée et baillante ^([sic : bâillante]) d’un serviteur tiré de son repos avant l’heure. Il avait la vue clignotante, l’accentuation hésitante, les jambes flanchantes. Le marasme le rongeait. Comment guérir ?
Mais tout de même, procréer à son âge lui paraissait louche et, bien qu’un tel résultat flattât sa vanité de vieux coq, la crainte d’avoir été aidé dans cette œuvre par des collaborateurs bénévoles autant qu’inconnus le retenait hésitant au bord du fossé conjugal.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- hesitant
- hhésitant
- hséitant
- héistant
- hésiatnt
- hésitannt
- hésitantt
- hésitatn
- hésitnat
- hésittant
- héssitant
- héstiant
- éhsitant
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hésitant - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "hésitant"?
What does "hésitant" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "hésitant"?
How do you pronounce "hésitant"?
What language does "hésitant" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hésitant", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "hésitant". Here's where to go from here.
- "hésitant" maps to 6 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "hésitent". View pair
- 13 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #20,162 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "H" letter cohort. H–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.