observance

/\ɔp.sɛʁ.vɑ̃s\/ noun

Letters

10 characters

Frequency Rank

#34,642

in French word usage

Misspellings

15

tracked variants

Confusables

2

similar word pairs

observance is aFrenchnoun. It means: Pratique d’une règle, exécution de ce que prescrit une règle, et souvent une règle religieuse. Pronounced \ɔp.sɛʁ.vɑ̃s\. Often confused with observant and observable.

Key facts for observance
PropertyValue
Headwordobservance
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔp.sɛʁ.vɑ̃s\
Letters10
Frequency rank#34,642
Misspellings tracked15
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of observance in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for observance is 10 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɔp.sɛʁ.vɑ̃s\. Corpus data places it at rank #34,642 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 15 documented wrong-spelling variants for observance, with forms such as "boservance", "obbservance", and "obesrvance". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "observant", "observable", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is observance, spelled O-B-S-E-R-V-A-N-C-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pratique d’une règle, exécution de ce que prescrit une règle, et souvent une règle religieuse.
  2. 2
    Degré de concordance entre le comportement d’un individu et les prescriptions médicales qu’il a reçues.
  3. 3
    Cette règle, cette loi religieuse.
  4. 4
    Ordre religieux où la règle monastique s’observe strictement.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: boservance,obbservance,obesrvance,obseravnce,obserrvance,observacne,observancce,observanec,observannce,observnace,observvance,obsevrance,obsrevance,obsservance,osbervance

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for observance

Misspelling Variants of "observance"

boservance10obbservance11obesrvance10obseravnce10obserrvance11observacne10observancce11observanec10
Misspelling Variants of "observance"

Frequency rank: #34,642 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "observance"?
"observance" is spelled O-B-S-E-R-V-A-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔp.sɛʁ.vɑ̃s\.
What does "observance" mean?
As a noun, "observance" means: Pratique d’une règle, exécution de ce que prescrit une règle, et souvent une règle religieuse.
What words are commonly confused with "observance"?
"observance" is commonly confused with "observant", "observable". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "observance"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "observance" is \ɔp.sɛʁ.vɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "observance" come from?
"observance" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter O in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.