pénétrer

\pe.ne.tʁe\

/\pe.ne.tʁe\/ verb

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

The verdict

“pénétrer” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #8,019. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#8,019
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Passer à travers ; entrer fort avant.

Corpus desk

Index FR-penetrer · pénétrer · French

pénétrer · rank #8,019 · 13 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,019
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH péninsule

Nearest frequency peer: péninsule (-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 « pénétrer »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « pénétrer » 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).

pénétrer vs pénétré
75% similar
pénétrer vs pénètrent
67% similar

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

Key facts for pénétrer
PropertyValue
Headwordpénétrer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pe.ne.tʁe\
Letters8
Frequency rank#8,019
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « pénétrer »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.pénétrerse 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 « péninsule » (#8,018), « rappelant » (#8,020), « rat » (#8,021). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pénétrer » est au #8,019. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around pénétrer (IPA \pe.ne.tʁe\), averb. Corpus frequency is #8,019 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for pénétrer, with forms such as "penetrer", "pnéétrer", and "ppénétrer". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "pénétré", "pénètrent", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is pénétrer, spelled P-É-N-É-T-R-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Passer à travers ; entrer fort avant.
  2. 2
    Découvrir, parvenir à connaître, avoir une profonde connaissance de quelque chose.
  3. 3
    Découvrir ses secrètes pensées, ses desseins cachés de quelqu’un.
  4. 4
    Pratiquer un coït sur ; commencer un rapport sexuel avec quelqu'un.
  5. 5
    Toucher profondément.
  6. 6
    S’emploie comme verbe intransitif dans la plupart de ses acceptions.
  7. 7
    Remplir son esprit, son âme de quelque pensée, de quelque sentiment.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On ne lui aurait pas permis de pénétrer, ce jour-là, dans l’enceinte palissadée et encore moins de chercher des morts parmi les ruines.
  2. Les vagues brisent à bord et submergent constamment le pont qui, mal calfaté à New-York, laisse pénétrer l’eau dans la cabine.

This word in other languages

penetrate(English)penetrar(Español)durchdringen(Deutsch)penetrar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • penetrer
  • pnéétrer
  • ppénétrer
  • pénnétrer
  • péntérer
  • pénérter
  • pénéterr
  • pénétrerr
  • pénétrre
  • pénétrrer
  • pénéttrer
  • pééntrer
  • épnétrer

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

penetrer2pnéétrer2ppénétrer1pénnétrer1péntérer2pénérter2pénéterr2pénétrerr1
Edit distance from "pénétrer"

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 "pénétrer"?
"pénétrer" is spelled P-É-N-É-T-R-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pe.ne.tʁe\.
What does "pénétrer" mean?
As a verb, "pénétrer" means: Passer à travers ; entrer fort avant.
What words are commonly confused with "pénétrer"?
"pénétrer" is commonly confused with "pénétré", "pénètrent". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pénétrer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pénétrer" is \pe.ne.tʁe\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pénétrer" come from?
"pénétrer" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pénétrer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

relancer#8,026relatifs#8,027réalités#8,033réfléchi#8,034

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

négatifs13 variantsintitulée13 variantsinterface13 variantséventuelle13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list