nuance

\nɥɑ̃s\

/\nɥɑ̃s\/ noun

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

The verdict

“nuance” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #9,884. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#9,884
frequency rank, French
1,563
“N” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Chacun des degrés différents par lesquels peut passer une couleur, en conservant le nom qui la distingue des autres.

Corpus desk

Index FR-nuance · nuance · French

nuance · rank #9,884 · 8 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #9,884
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,563
  • PHOTO-FINISH normales

Nearest frequency peer: normales (-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 « nuance »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « nuance » 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).

nuance vs nuancer
86% similar
nuance vs nuancée
86% similar
nuance vs nuisance
75% similar

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

Key facts for nuance
PropertyValue
Headwordnuance
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\nɥɑ̃s\
Letters6
Frequency rank#9,884
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « nuance »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).nuancese 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 « normales » (#9,883), « opérationnel » (#9,885), « neiges » (#9,882). Parmi 1,563 lemmes en « N », « nuance » est au #9,884. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around nuance (IPA \nɥɑ̃s\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #9,884 among 1,563 “N” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for nuance, with forms such as "naunce", "nnuance", and "nuacne". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "nuancer", "nuancée", "nuisance", 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 nuance, spelled N-U-A-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Chacun des degrés différents par lesquels peut passer une couleur, en conservant le nom qui la distingue des autres.
  2. 2
    Caractéristique subtile changeant légèrement la nature d’une chose.
  3. 3
    Façon d’exprimer les idées qui ne tombe pas dans le tout ou rien, qui refuse le manichéisme.
  4. 4
    Inflexions d’une musique allant dans le sens de la force ou de la douceur.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On distingue ici les fils de nuance unie à foulage prolongé, les fils de couleur pour les nouveautés et les fils fantaisie et retors.
  2. Le maquignon de bas étage teint, en tout ou en partie, les robes pour rendre un équipage similaire, au risque de s’exposer à voir fondre la nuance sous une averse.

Synonyms

subtilité

Antonyms

uniformitémanichéisme

This word in other languages

hue(English)matiz(Español)Schattierung(Deutsch)matiz(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • naunce
  • nnuance
  • nuacne
  • nuancce
  • nuanec
  • nuannce
  • nunace
  • unance

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

naunce2nnuance1nuacne2nuancce1nuanec2nuannce1nunace2unance2
Edit distance from "nuance"

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 "nuance"?
"nuance" is spelled N-U-A-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \nɥɑ̃s\.
What does "nuance" mean?
As a noun, "nuance" means: Chacun des degrés différents par lesquels peut passer une couleur, en conservant le nom qui la distingue des autres.
What words are commonly confused with "nuance"?
"nuance" is commonly confused with "nuancer", "nuancée", "nuisance". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "nuance"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "nuance" is \nɥɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "nuance" come from?
"nuance" 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 "nuance", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

neiges#9,882posées#9,894laïque#9,865remets#9,904

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

navette8 variantsmonts8 variantsrequin8 variantsisoler8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list