instigation

\ɛ̃.sti.ɡa.sjɔ̃\

/\ɛ̃.sti.ɡa.sjɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“instigation” has 16 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #36,004. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#36,004
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
16
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Incitation, suggestion, sollicitation pressante par laquelle on pousse quelqu’un à faire quelque chose. — Note d’usage : Il se prend le plus souvent en mauvaise part.

Corpus desk

Index FR-instigation · instigation · French

instigation · rank #36,004 · 16 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #36,004
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 16 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH inspirait

Nearest frequency peer: inspirait (-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 « instigation »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « instigation » 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).

instigation vs institution
82% similar
instigation vs investigation
85% similar
instigation vs initiation
82% similar

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

Key facts for instigation
PropertyValue
Headwordinstigation
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɛ̃.sti.ɡa.sjɔ̃\
Letters11
Frequency rank#36,004
Misspellings tracked16
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « instigation »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.instigationse 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 « inspirait » (#36,003), « intenter » (#36,005), « inspectrice » (#36,002). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « instigation » est au #36,004. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 16 spelling variants around instigation (IPA \ɛ̃.sti.ɡa.sjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #36,004 among 3,561 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for instigation, with forms such as "innstigation", "insitgation", and "insstigation". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "institution", "investigation", "initiation", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is instigation, spelled I-N-S-T-I-G-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Incitation, suggestion, sollicitation pressante par laquelle on pousse quelqu’un à faire quelque chose. — Note d’usage : Il se prend le plus souvent en mauvaise part.
  2. 2
    Fait de décider quelqu'un à commettre un crime ou un délit.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Certains chroniqueurs prétendent même qu'il aurait étendu cette mesure à tous les juifs de son royaume, à l'instigation de l'empereur d'Orient, Héraclius, qui lui aurait fait savoir qu'aux dires de ses astrologues l'empire chrétien était menacé par un peuple circoncis.
  2. Le syndicat intercommunal qui regroupait les communes de Joux-la-Ville et Précy-le-Sec avait été créé à l’instigation du maire de Joux-la-Ville pour apaiser les tensions entre les communes après que le projet d'implantation de la prison fut récupéré par la sienne.

This word in other languages

instigation(English)Anstiftung(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • innstigation
  • insitgation
  • insstigation
  • instgiation
  • instiagtion
  • instigaiton
  • instigatino
  • instigationn
  • instigatoin
  • instigattion
  • instiggation
  • instigtaion
  • insttigation
  • intsigation
  • isntigation
  • nistigation

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

innstigation1insitgation2insstigation1instgiation2instiagtion2instigaiton2instigatino2instigationn1
Edit distance from "instigation"

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 "instigation"?
"instigation" is spelled I-N-S-T-I-G-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.sti.ɡa.sjɔ̃\.
What does "instigation" mean?
As a noun, "instigation" means: Incitation, suggestion, sollicitation pressante par laquelle on pousse quelqu’un à faire quelque chose. — Note d’usage : Il se prend le plus souvent en mauvaise part.
What words are commonly confused with "instigation"?
"instigation" is commonly confused with "institution", "investigation", "initiation". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "instigation"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "instigation" is \ɛ̃.sti.ɡa.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "instigation" come from?
"instigation" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "instigation", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

inspectrice#36,002indiquaient#35,995irrecevable#36,013grammatical#35,972

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (16 here; floor ≥5).

Montélimar16 variantsobtempérer16 variantsprécipités16 variantscréatrices16 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list