hésiter
^((h muet))\e.zi.te\
The verdict
“hésiter” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #8,722. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #8,722
- frequency rank, French
- 1,969
- “H” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 13
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Être incertain, indécis sur le parti, sur la résolution que l’on doit prendre.
Corpus desk
Index FR-hesiter · hésiter · French
hésiter · rank #8,722 · 11 variants · 13 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #8,722
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
- VAR-MID 11 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,969
- PHOTO-FINISH hospitalier
Nearest frequency peer: hospitalier (-2 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.
Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « hésiter »
Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin
- habitent
habitent
91,283 corpus weight
- habituelle
habituelle
91,282 corpus weight
- hospitalier
hospitalier
91,281 corpus weight
- hésiter
hésiter
91,279 corpus weight
- impliqués
impliqués
91,277 corpus weight
- incertitude
incertitude
91,276 corpus weight
What this shows « hésiter » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.
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 | hésiter |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | ^((h muet))\e.zi.te\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #8,722 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « hésiter »
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around hésiter (IPA ^((h muet))\e.zi.te\), averb. Corpus frequency is #8,722 among 1,969 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for hésiter, with forms such as "hesiter", "hhésiter", and "hséiter". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "hésitez", "heurter", "hésites", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is hésiter, spelled H-É-S-I-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1Être incertain, indécis sur le parti, sur la résolution que l’on doit prendre.
- 2Ne pas trouver facilement ce qu’on veut dire, soit que cela vienne de crainte, d’un défaut de mémoire ou du peu de netteté d’esprit.
- 3Marquer un temps d’arrêt dans son élocution, s’arrêter de parler.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hésiter appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
S’il n’y a aucun signe plessimétrique ou stéthoscopique indiquant une lésion superficielle du poumon, et si la respiration est simplement affaiblie, on ne peut guère hésiter qu'entre l'existence d'indurations centrales ou disséminées et un état emphysémateux du poumon.
La dame Labache ne pouvait indiquer le moment. En raison du changement d’heure, survenu la même nuit, la déposante hésitait : elle avait, en se mettant au lit, retardé sa pendule pour s’épargner la peine d’y penser le lendemain, […].
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- hesiter
- hhésiter
- hséiter
- héister
- hésietr
- hésiterr
- hésitre
- hésitter
- héssiter
- héstier
- éhsiter
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hésiter - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "hésiter"?
What does "hésiter" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "hésiter"?
How do you pronounce "hésiter"?
What language does "hésiter" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hésiter", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).