instances
\ɛ̃s.tɑ̃s\
The verdict
“instances” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #7,196 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,196
- frequency rank, French
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Pluriel de instance.
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 | instances |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ɛ̃s.tɑ̃s\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #7,196 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “instances” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for instances is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɛ̃s.tɑ̃s\. Corpus data places it at rank #7,196 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Pluriel de instance.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for instances, with forms such as "innstances", "insatnces", and "insstances". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "instants", "instincts", "instance", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is instances, spelled I-N-S-T-A-N-C-E-S.
Definition
- 1Pluriel de instance.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: innstances,insatnces,insstances,instacnes,instancces,instancess,instancse,instanecs,instannces,instnaces,insttances,intsances,isntances,nistances
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of instances - 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.
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 "instances"?
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Using “instances”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is I-N-S-T-A-N-C-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɛ̃s.tɑ̃s\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “instants” - see the side-by-side comparison. instances vs instants
- 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.