posséder

\pɔ.se.de\

/\pɔ.se.de\/ verb

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

The verdict

“posséder” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #6,986. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#6,986
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Avoir à soi, en son pouvoir ; avoir la propriété ou la possession de.

Corpus desk

Index FR-posseder · posséder · French

posséder · rank #6,986 · 11 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,986
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH pensons

Nearest frequency peer: pensons (-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 « posséder »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « posséder » 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).

posséder vs possédez
88% similar
posséder vs possédés
75% similar
posséder vs possédé
75% similar

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

Key facts for posséder
PropertyValue
Headwordposséder
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pɔ.se.de\
Letters8
Frequency rank#6,986
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « posséder »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).posséderse 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 « pensons » (#6,985), « power » (#6,987), « organisés » (#6,984). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « posséder » est au #6,986. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around posséder (IPA \pɔ.se.de\), averb. Corpus frequency is #6,986 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for posséder, with forms such as "opsséder", "possdéer", and "posseder". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "possédez", "possédés", "possédé", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is posséder, spelled P-O-S-S-É-D-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Avoir à soi, en son pouvoir ; avoir la propriété ou la possession de.
  2. 2
    Avoir en propre.
  3. 3
    Être doté, en parlant d’attributs.
  4. 4
    Être titulaire, en parlant des emplois, des honneurs, des qualités.
  5. 5
    Savoir bien une chose ; en avoir une parfaite connaissance.
  6. 6
    Prendre par les passions, des sentiments qui maîtrisent l’âme, qui l’agitent et l’égarent.
  7. 7
    (Sens faible) Posséder quelqu'un : l'avoir chez soi et jouir de sa compagnie.
  8. 8
    S’emparer du corps et de l’âme d'une personne, en parlant du démon.
  9. 9
    Avoir un rapport sexuel.
  10. 10
    Être maître de son esprit, de ses passions, de ses mouvements, ne pas se laisser troubler par les circonstances fâcheuses.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On peut être marri, ou plutôt s’attrister du bien d’autrui, à cause que nous ne l’avons pas & que nous souhaiterions le posséder aussi bien que lui […]
  2. Aucun riche ne possède plus que moi ce vieux chêne de Fontainebleau ou ce tableau du Louvre. Et ils sont plus à moi qu’au riche si je sais mieux en jouir.

This word in other languages

possess(English)poseer(Español)besitzen(Deutsch)possuir(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • opsséder
  • possdéer
  • posseder
  • possédder
  • posséderr
  • possédre
  • posséedr
  • poséder
  • posésder
  • pposséder
  • psoséder

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

opsséder2possdéer2posseder1possédder1posséderr1possédre2posséedr2poséder1
Edit distance from "posséder"

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 "posséder"?
"posséder" is spelled P-O-S-S-É-D-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pɔ.se.de\.
What does "posséder" mean?
As a verb, "posséder" means: Avoir à soi, en son pouvoir ; avoir la propriété ou la possession de.
What words are commonly confused with "posséder"?
"posséder" is commonly confused with "possédez", "possédés", "possédé". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "posséder"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "posséder" is \pɔ.se.de\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "posséder" come from?
"posséder" 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 "posséder", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

reconnus#6,993spatiale#7,001intrigue#6,968favorise#6,958

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

pensons11 variantsmandats11 variantsgagnent11 variantsAthènes11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list