otage

\ɔ.taʒ\

/\ɔ.taʒ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“otage” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #6,863. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#6,863
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
14
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Personne livrée ou prise afin de garantir des accords entre ennemis.

Corpus desk

Index FR-otage · otage · French

otage · rank #6,863 · 6 variants · 14 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,863
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 14 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH orthographe

Nearest frequency peer: orthographe (-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 « otage »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « otage » 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).

otage vs ôté
20% similar
otage vs OTAN
0% similar
otage vs ovale
60% similar

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

Key facts for otage
PropertyValue
Headwordotage
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔ.taʒ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#6,863
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs14
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « otage »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).otagese 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 « orthographe » (#6,862), « OTAN » (#6,864), « opérer » (#6,861). Parmi 1,642 lemmes en « O », « otage » est au #6,863. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around otage (IPA \ɔ.taʒ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #6,863 among 1,642 “O” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for otage, with forms such as "oatge", "otaeg", and "otagge". 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 14 confusable-pair relationships, "ôté", "OTAN", "ovale", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is otage, spelled O-T-A-G-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Personne livrée ou prise afin de garantir des accords entre ennemis.
  2. 2
    Personne prise pour faire pression sur quelqu’un, un groupe, ou un État, afin d’obtenir quelque chose d’eux.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il eut pour cela recours à Casula Duc de Hongrie, & Uratislas Duc de Pologne, qui lui donnèrent un secours assez considérable pour contraindre à son tour Suintebold, de lui donner son fils en ôtage pour assurance de sa fidélité.
  2. De Termes ne pouvant lui faire compter cette somme , lui envoya son neveu en otage , et il partit pour le Levant le 22 septembre , au moment où sa coopération eût été le plus nécessaire.

This word in other languages

hostage(English)rehén(Español)Geisel(Deutsch)refém(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • oatge
  • otaeg
  • otagge
  • otgae
  • ottage
  • toage

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of otage - 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.

oatge2otaeg2otagge1otgae2ottage1toage2
Edit distance from "otage"

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 "otage"?
"otage" is spelled O-T-A-G-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔ.taʒ\.
What does "otage" mean?
As a noun, "otage" means: Personne livrée ou prise afin de garantir des accords entre ennemis.
What words are commonly confused with "otage"?
"otage" is commonly confused with "ôté", "OTAN", "ovale". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "otage"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "otage" is \ɔ.taʒ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "otage" come from?
"otage" 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 "otage", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

party#6,867proie#6,874pékin#6,878linge#6,842

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

lent6 variantsfric6 variantsflamme6 variantswhat6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list