lettre de motivation
\lɛ.tʁə də mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\
The verdict
“lettre de motivation” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Lettre courte et concise à destination d’une personne ayant la fonction de directeur des ressources humaines (une entreprise, une association, etc.) qui permet à un candidat (chercheur d’emploi, st...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lettre de motivation |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \lɛ.tʁə də mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lettre de motivation” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for lettre de motivation is 20 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \lɛ.tʁə də mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Lettre courte et concise à destination d’une personne ayant la fonction de directeur des ressources humaines (une entreprise, une association, etc.) qui permet à un candidat (chercheur d’emploi, st...".
No misspelling variants are generated for lettre de motivation in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
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 lettre de motivation, spelled L-E-T-T-R-E- -D-E- -M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Lettre courte et concise à destination d’une personne ayant la fonction de directeur des ressources humaines (une entreprise, une association, etc.) qui permet à un candidat (chercheur d’emploi, stagiaire, etc.) de montrer sa motivation et ses qualités en vue d’obtenir un poste ou un stage.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “lettre de motivation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is L-E-T-T-R-E- -D-E- -M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \lɛ.tʁə də mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.