possession

\pɔ.sɛ.sjɔ̃\

/\pɔ.sɛ.sjɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“possession” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #3,558. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,558
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Jouissance, faculté actuelle de disposer ou de jouir d’un bien.

Corpus desk

Index FR-possession · possession · French

possession · rank #3,558 · 11 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,558
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH pauvreté

Nearest frequency peer: pauvreté (-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 « possession »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « possession » 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).

possession vs possessions
91% similar
possession vs possessif
80% similar

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

Key facts for possession
PropertyValue
Headwordpossession
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɔ.sɛ.sjɔ̃\
Letters10
Frequency rank#3,558
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « possession »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.possessionse 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 « pauvreté » (#3,557), « pratiquement » (#3,559), « passés » (#3,556). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « possession » est au #3,558. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around possession (IPA \pɔ.sɛ.sjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,558 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for possession, with forms such as "opssession", "posession", and "posesssion". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "possessions", "possessif", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is possession, spelled P-O-S-S-E-S-S-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Jouissance, faculté actuelle de disposer ou de jouir d’un bien.
  2. 2
    Rapport possessif ou analogue à la possession, exprimé par les adjectifs possessifs comme ma, les pronoms possessifs comme le mien, les adpositions comme de, les verbes comme avoir, etc.
  3. 3
    Terres possédées par un État ou par un particulier.
  4. 4
    Jouissance de certains plaisirs, de certaines choses qu’on a recherchées avec ardeur.
  5. 5
    État d’un homme qu’on dit possédé par le démon.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La possession et l’exploitation du sol par indivis, rationnelle, juste, féconde, nécessaire même, tant que la société exploitante n’excède pas les limites d’une proche parenté, - père, mère, aïeul et aïeule, enfants, beaux-fils et belles-filles, domestiques, oncles et tantes ; - est aussi solide que la famille même.
  2. Au moment où il se présenta, Alice, qui l’avait vu venir, entrait aussi dans la salle, où son père et ses trois assidus discutaient à grand fracas sur le parti qu’il y avait à prendre pour rentrer en possession du diamant volé.

This word in other languages

possession(English)posesión(Español)Besitz(Deutsch)posse(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • opssession
  • posession
  • posesssion
  • possesion
  • possesison
  • possessino
  • possessionn
  • possessoin
  • posssesion
  • ppossession
  • psosession

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of possession - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

opssession2posession1posesssion2possesion1possesison2possessino2possessionn1possessoin2
Edit distance from "possession"

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 "possession"?
"possession" is spelled P-O-S-S-E-S-S-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \pɔ.sɛ.sjɔ̃\.
What does "possession" mean?
As a noun, "possession" means: Jouissance, faculté actuelle de disposer ou de jouir d’un bien.
What words are commonly confused with "possession"?
"possession" is commonly confused with "possessions", "possessif". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "possession"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "possession" is \pɔ.sɛ.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "possession" come from?
"possession" 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 "possession", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

naturelles#3,551terrorisme#3,573Luxembourg#3,542adversaire#3,586

Similar misspelling depth

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

ouvriers11 variantséquipage11 variantsAutriche11 variantsautoroute11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list