offense

\ɔ.fɑ̃s\

/\ɔ.fɑ̃s\/ noun

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

The verdict

“offense” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #18,813. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,813
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Injure de fait ou de parole.

Corpus desk

Index FR-offense · offense · French

offense · rank #18,813 · 8 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,813
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH Odile

Nearest frequency peer: Odile (-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 « offense »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « offense » 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).

offense vs offerte
71% similar
offense vs offensif
75% similar
offense vs offenser
88% similar

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

Key facts for offense
PropertyValue
Headwordoffense
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔ.fɑ̃s\
Letters7
Frequency rank#18,813
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « offense »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).offensese place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Odile » (#18,812), « olives » (#18,814), « omelette » (#18,815). Parmi 1,642 lemmes en « O », « offense » est au #18,813. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around offense (IPA \ɔ.fɑ̃s\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,813 among 1,642 “O” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for offense, with forms such as "fofense", "ofefnse", and "ofense". 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, "offerte", "offensif", "offenser", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is offense, spelled O-F-F-E-N-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Injure de fait ou de parole.
  2. 2
    Manquement à Dieu.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il m’a fait une offense irréparable.
  2. Subir une offense.

Antonyms

défense

This word in other languages

offense(English)ofensa(Español)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • fofense
  • ofefnse
  • ofense
  • offenes
  • offennse
  • offensse
  • offesne
  • offnese

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

fofense2ofefnse2ofense1offenes2offennse1offensse1offesne2offnese2
Edit distance from "offense"

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 "offense"?
"offense" is spelled O-F-F-E-N-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔ.fɑ̃s\.
What does "offense" mean?
As a noun, "offense" means: Injure de fait ou de parole.
What words are commonly confused with "offense"?
"offense" is commonly confused with "offerte", "offensif", "offenser". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "offense"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "offense" is \ɔ.fɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "offense" come from?
"offense" 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 "offense", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

notoire#18,809orteils#18,817nombril#18,808méritée#18,805

Similar misspelling depth

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

olives8 variantsmétis8 variantsJoshua8 variantsgrasses8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list