incertain

\ɛ̃.sɛʁ.tɛ̃\

/\ɛ̃.sɛʁ.tɛ̃\/ adj

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

The verdict

“incertain” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #12,798. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#12,798
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui n’est pas certain, pas assuré.

Corpus desk

Index FR-incertain · incertain · French

incertain · rank #12,798 · 13 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #12,798
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH impliquée

Nearest frequency peer: impliquée (-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 « incertain »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « incertain » 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).

incertain vs incertaine
90% similar
incertain vs incertains
90% similar
incertain vs incertaines
82% similar

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

Key facts for incertain
PropertyValue
Headwordincertain
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɛ̃.sɛʁ.tɛ̃\
Letters9
Frequency rank#12,798
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « incertain »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.incertainse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « impliquée » (#12,797), « incitation » (#12,799), « identités » (#12,796). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « incertain » est au #12,798. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around incertain (IPA \ɛ̃.sɛʁ.tɛ̃\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #12,798 among 3,561 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for incertain, with forms such as "icnertain", "inccertain", and "inceratin". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "incertaine", "incertains", "incertaines", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is incertain, spelled I-N-C-E-R-T-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui n’est pas certain, pas assuré.
  2. 2
    Qui n’est pas fixé, pas déterminé.
  3. 3
    Qui est variable, mal assuré.
  4. 4
    Qui n’a pas une forme ou une nature bien arrêtée.
  5. 5
    En parlant des personnes, qui manque de certitude ou de résolution.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Je semble défier la mort et pourtant je ne peux protéger les corps meurtris. Les soldats vont encore être obligés de faire des sacrifices pour un résultat plus qu’incertain, probablement un échec.
  2. La victoire fut longtemps incertaine.

This word in other languages

uncertain(English)incierto(Español)sicher(Deutsch)indeciso(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • icnertain
  • inccertain
  • inceratin
  • incerrtain
  • incertainn
  • incertani
  • incertian
  • incerttain
  • incetrain
  • incretain
  • inecrtain
  • inncertain
  • nicertain

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of incertain - 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.

icnertain2inccertain1inceratin2incerrtain1incertainn1incertani2incertian2incerttain1
Edit distance from "incertain"

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 "incertain"?
"incertain" is spelled I-N-C-E-R-T-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.sɛʁ.tɛ̃\.
What does "incertain" mean?
As an adjective, "incertain" means: Qui n’est pas certain, pas assuré.
What words are commonly confused with "incertain"?
"incertain" is commonly confused with "incertaine", "incertains", "incertaines". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "incertain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "incertain" is \ɛ̃.sɛʁ.tɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "incertain" come from?
"incertain" 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 "incertain", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

impliquée#12,797identités#12,796Marrakech#12,810minimiser#12,816

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

mentionnée13 variantsendurance13 variantspanthéon13 variantsredevance13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list