petite

\pə.tit\

/\pə.tit\/ noun

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

The verdict

“petite” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #290. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#290
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
19
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Enfant de genre féminin.

Corpus desk

Index FR-petite · petite · French

petite · rank #290 · 8 variants · 19 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #290
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 19 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH hommes

Nearest frequency peer: hommes (-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 « petite »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « petite » 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).

petite vs pitié
50% similar
petite vs petits
83% similar
petite vs petites
86% similar

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

Key facts for petite
PropertyValue
Headwordpetite
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pə.tit\
Letters6
Frequency rank#290
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs19
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « petite »

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « hommes » (#289), « femmes » (#291), « ensemble » (#288). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « petite » est au #290. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around petite (IPA \pə.tit\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #290 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for petite, with forms such as "eptite", "peitte", and "petiet". 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 19 confusable-pair relationships, "pitié", "petits", "petites", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

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 petite, spelled P-E-T-I-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Enfant de genre féminin.
  2. 2
    La plus petite carte d'une couleur ou d'un jeu, souvent l'as ou le un d'atout au tarot.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Je dis : la panthère a ramassé, « rapté » ma femme et la petite de Milly.
  2. Tout en enveloppant la petite dans une serviette, Marnie éprouva une bouffée d’amour en contemplant son minois auréolé de boucles dorées.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • eptite
  • peitte
  • petiet
  • petitte
  • pettie
  • pettite
  • ppetite
  • pteite

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

eptite2peitte2petiet2petitte1pettie2pettite1ppetite1pteite2
Edit distance from "petite"

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 "petite"?
"petite" is spelled P-E-T-I-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pə.tit\.
What does "petite" mean?
As a noun, "petite" means: Enfant de genre féminin.
What words are commonly confused with "petite"?
"petite" is commonly confused with "pitié", "petits", "petites". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "petite"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "petite" is \pə.tit\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "petite" come from?
"petite" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "petite", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

femmes#291hommes#289passer#293nombre#282

Similar misspelling depth

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

choses8 variantsautant8 variantsquatre8 variantsraison8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list