incertain
\ɛ̃.sɛʁ.tɛ̃\
The verdict
“incertain” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #12,798 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #12,798
- frequency rank, French
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui n’est pas certain, pas assuré.
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 | incertain |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ɛ̃.sɛʁ.tɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #12,798 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “incertain” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for incertain is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɛ̃.sɛʁ.tɛ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #12,798 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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
- 1Qui n’est pas certain, pas assuré.
- 2Qui n’est pas fixé, pas déterminé.
- 3Qui est variable, mal assuré.
- 4Qui n’a pas une forme ou une nature bien arrêtée.
- 5En parlant des personnes, qui manque de certitude ou de résolution.
This word in other languages
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.
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"?
What does "incertain" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “incertain”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is I-N-C-E-R-T-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɛ̃.sɛʁ.tɛ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “incertaine” - see the side-by-side comparison. incertain vs incertaine
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.