hyène

^((h aspiré))\jɛn\

/^((h aspiré))\jɛn\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“hyène” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #38,350. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#38,350
frequency rank, French
1,969
“H” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
13
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mammifère carnassier digitigrade d’Asie et d’Afrique au pelage gris tacheté de brun. Précédée de de ou de la, l’élision est facultative, on peut donc aussi bien dire la hyène ou de hyène, que l’hyè...

Corpus desk

Index FR-hyene · hyène · French

hyène · rank #38,350 · 8 variants · 13 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #38,350
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,969
  • PHOTO-FINISH hurlait

Nearest frequency peer: hurlait (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « hyène »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « hyène » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

hyène vs hype
60% similar
hyène vs hymne
80% similar
hyène vs hymen
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for hyène
PropertyValue
Headwordhyène
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA^((h aspiré))\jɛn\
Letters5
Frequency rank#38,350
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « hyène »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).hyènese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « hurlait » (#38,349), « humanoïde » (#38,348), « idéologues » (#38,352). Parmi 1,969 lemmes en « H », « hyène » est au #38,350. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around hyène (IPA ^((h aspiré))\jɛn\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #38,350 among 1,969 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for hyène, with forms such as "hhyène", "hyene", and "hynèe". 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, "hype", "hymne", "hymen", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is hyène, spelled H-Y-È-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mammifère carnassier digitigrade d’Asie et d’Afrique au pelage gris tacheté de brun. Précédée de de ou de la, l’élision est facultative, on peut donc aussi bien dire la hyène ou de hyène, que l’hyène ou d’hyène.
  2. 2
    Personne cruelle et sournoise. → voir charognard

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how hyène appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Quant à la hyène, sa forme étrange, ses allures mystérieuses, son invisibilité le jour et les ricanements sinistres par lesquels elle annonce sa présence la nuit, en font pour l’indigène une espèce de vampire ou de loup-garou.
  2. L’hyène rayée, la plus connue, a les oreilles longues, la crinière fournie, le dos déclive ou en toit, le pelage gris ou fauve sale, mêlé de brun.

This word in other languages

hyena(English)hiena(Español)Hyäne(Deutsch)hiena(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hhyène
  • hyene
  • hynèe
  • hyyène
  • hyèen
  • hyènne
  • hèyne
  • yhène

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hyène - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

hhyène1hyene1hynèe2hyyène1hyèen2hyènne1hèyne2yhène2
Edit distance from "hyène"

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 "hyène"?
"hyène" is spelled H-Y-È-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is ^((h aspiré))\jɛn\.
What does "hyène" mean?
As a noun, "hyène" means: Mammifère carnassier digitigrade d’Asie et d’Afrique au pelage gris tacheté de brun. Précédée de de ou de la, l’élision est facultative, on peut donc aussi bien dire la hyène ou de hyène, que l’hyè...
What words are commonly confused with "hyène"?
"hyène" is commonly confused with "hype", "hymne", "hymen". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "hyène"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hyène" is ^((h aspiré))\jɛn\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "hyène" come from?
"hyène" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hyène", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Horus#38,344Incas#38,357heard#38,336Isaïe#38,374

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

inclue8 variantshiatus8 variantsjauger8 variantsgoulot8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list