méfiance

\me.fjɑ̃s\

/\me.fjɑ̃s\/ noun

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

The verdict

“méfiance” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #11,259. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#11,259
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Disposition à se méfier, à soupçonner, crainte habituelle d’être trompé.

Corpus desk

Index FR-mefiance · méfiance · French

méfiance · rank #11,259 · 12 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,259
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH multiplient

Nearest frequency peer: multiplient (-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 « méfiance »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « méfiance » 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).

méfiance vs méfiant
75% similar
méfiance vs méfiants
75% similar
méfiance vs méfiante
88% similar

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

Key facts for méfiance
PropertyValue
Headwordméfiance
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\me.fjɑ̃s\
Letters8
Frequency rank#11,259
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « méfiance »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.méfiancese place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « multiplient » (#11,258), « mériter » (#11,260), « next » (#11,261). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « méfiance » est au #11,259. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around méfiance (IPA \me.fjɑ̃s\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #11,259 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Disposition à se méfier, à soupçonner, crainte habituelle d’être trompé.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for méfiance, with forms such as "mefiance", "mféiance", and "mméfiance". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "méfiant", "méfiants", "méfiante", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is méfiance, spelled M-É-F-I-A-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Disposition à se méfier, à soupçonner, crainte habituelle d’être trompé.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il était de ceux qui pratiquent la méfiance, cette sagesse du pauvre qui ne se laisse éblouir ni par les beaux habits ni par les douces paroles.
  2. Notre esprit d'envie, de méfiance et de dissensions nous empêchera, longtemps encore je le crains, de nous mettre d'accord ; ….

This word in other languages

distrust(English)recelo(Español)Misstrauen(Deutsch)desconfiança(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • mefiance
  • mféiance
  • mméfiance
  • méfaince
  • méffiance
  • méfiacne
  • méfiancce
  • méfianec
  • méfiannce
  • méfinace
  • méifance
  • émfiance

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of méfiance - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

mefiance1mféiance2mméfiance1méfaince2méffiance1méfiacne2méfiancce1méfianec2
Edit distance from "méfiance"

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 "méfiance"?
"méfiance" is spelled M-É-F-I-A-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \me.fjɑ̃s\.
What does "méfiance" mean?
As a noun, "méfiance" means: Disposition à se méfier, à soupçonner, crainte habituelle d’être trompé.
What words are commonly confused with "méfiance"?
"méfiance" is commonly confused with "méfiant", "méfiants", "méfiante". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "méfiance"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "méfiance" is \me.fjɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "méfiance" come from?
"méfiance" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "méfiance", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

partagés#11,268licences#11,247libanais#11,246planning#11,272

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

lumineuse12 variantsprouvent12 variantsinitiales12 variantsrequêtes12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list