nécessité
\ne.se.si.te\
The verdict
“nécessité” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #2,586 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,586
- frequency rank, French
- 9
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Caractère de ce qui est absolument obligatoire, indispensable, de ce dont on ne peut se passer.
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 | nécessité |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ne.se.si.te\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #2,586 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nécessité” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for nécessité is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ne.se.si.te\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,586 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for nécessité, with forms such as "ncéessité", "necessite", and "nnécessité". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "nécessiter", "nécessités", "nécessitent", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is nécessité, spelled N-É-C-E-S-S-I-T-É.
Definition
- 1Caractère de ce qui est absolument obligatoire, indispensable, de ce dont on ne peut se passer.
- 2Ce qu’on ne peut éviter, ce qui s’impose d’une façon plus ou moins stricte.
- 3Dans un sens général et absolu, Tout ce à quoi il est impossible de se soustraire, de résister.
- 4Ce qui contraint dans quelque circonstance déterminée.
- 5Besoin pressant.
- 6Impératif ; exigence ; obligation.
- 7Les besoins d’argent qu’éprouve un pays, un gouvernement, une corporation.
- 8Besoin auquel la nature de l’homme est assujettie, comme boire, manger, dormir, etc.
- 9Indigence, dénuement.
- 10Principe de nécessité militaire selon laquelle les parties au conflit ne peuvent utiliser que les moyens et méthodes nécessaire pour atteindre un objectif militaire légitime et déterminé. En droit international des conflits armés, le principe de nécessité s'évalue avant le principe de proportionnalité.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ncéessité,necessite,nnécessité,néccessité,nécesisté,nécesité,nécessitté,nécessiét,nécesstié,nécsesité,néecssité,éncessité
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of nécessité - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "nécessité"?
What does "nécessité" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "nécessité"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “nécessité”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is N-É-C-E-S-S-I-T-É - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ne.se.si.te\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “nécessiter” - see the side-by-side comparison. nécessité vs nécessiter
- 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.