lieutenance

\ljøt.nɑ̃s\

/\ljøt.nɑ̃s\/ noun

The verdict

“lieutenance” is uncommon French (frequency #80,371 among 2,567 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#80,371
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Charge, office, emploi, grade de lieutenant.

Corpus desk

Index FR-lieutenance · lieutenance · French

lieutenance · rank #80,371 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #80,371
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH libéralité

Nearest frequency peer: libéralité (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « lieutenance »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « lieutenance » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for lieutenance
PropertyValue
Headwordlieutenance
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ljøt.nɑ̃s\
Letters11
Frequency rank#80,371
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « lieutenance » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.lieutenancetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « libéralité » (#80,370), « ligotés » (#80,372), « libéralisé » (#80,369). Parmi 2,567 lemmes en « L », « lieutenance » est au #80,371. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

lieutenance is uncommon French at frequency #80,371 among 2,567 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ljøt.nɑ̃s\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for lieutenance, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is lieutenance, spelled L-I-E-U-T-E-N-A-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Charge, office, emploi, grade de lieutenant.
  2. 2
    Bâtiment affecté au logement du lieutenant du roi.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On a regardé comme un des actes les plus violens du ministère de Castelreagh, d’avoir dépouillé lord Fitz-William de la lieutenance du Yorkshire, pour le punir de son opposition aux vues du gouvernement.
  2. Il fit grande caresse au mari d’Angélique, et lui dit qu’en attendant une compagnie, il lui donnerait une lieutenance, – et qu’il allait mettre mademoiselle de Longueval dans la carrosse de sa sœur, qui était mariée au premier capitaine de son régiment.

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 "lieutenance"?
"lieutenance" is spelled L-I-E-U-T-E-N-A-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ljøt.nɑ̃s\.
What does "lieutenance" mean?
As a noun, "lieutenance" means: Charge, office, emploi, grade de lieutenant.
How do you pronounce "lieutenance"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lieutenance" is \ljøt.nɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "lieutenance" come from?
"lieutenance" 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 "lieutenance", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list