requin

\ʁə.kɛ̃\

/\ʁə.kɛ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“requin” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #9,907. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#9,907
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
11
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Espèce de poisson de mer prédateur de la classe des chondrichthyens (Chondrichthyens), à la silhouette fuselée, hydrodynamique, ayant plusieurs rangées de dents tranchantes à chacune des 2 mâchoire...

Corpus desk

Index FR-requin · requin · French

requin · rank #9,907 · 8 variants · 11 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #9,907
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 11 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH reportages

Nearest frequency peer: reportages (-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 « requin »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « requin » 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).

requin vs requis
83% similar
requin vs return
67% similar
requin vs requins
86% similar

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

Key facts for requin
PropertyValue
Headwordrequin
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʁə.kɛ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#9,907
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs11
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « requin »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).requinse 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 « reportages » (#9,906), « run » (#9,908), « remets » (#9,904). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « requin » est au #9,907. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around requin (IPA \ʁə.kɛ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #9,907 among 5,742 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for requin, with forms such as "erquin", "reqiun", and "reqquin". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 11 confusable-pair relationships, "requis", "return", "requins", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is requin, spelled R-E-Q-U-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Espèce de poisson de mer prédateur de la classe des chondrichthyens (Chondrichthyens), à la silhouette fuselée, hydrodynamique, ayant plusieurs rangées de dents tranchantes à chacune des 2 mâchoires, une nageoire dorsale, deux pectorales, et une nageoire caudale hétérocerque (asymétrique), ayant cinq à sept fentes branchiales sur le côté, et une peau rugueuse (denticules dermiques).
  2. 2
    La chair d'un de ces animaux pour l'alimentation humaine.
  3. 3
    Personne avide et cupide qui réussit dans les affaires.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Pendant que sous la mer profonde Les cachalots et les requins Ces écumeurs géants de l’onde sonore Libres dévorent le fretin Nous autres cloués à la rivière basse Où la bourrasque venteuse a rejeté Notre barque un instant rétive Nous pleurons de sang notre liberté.
  2. Mon sang se glaça dans mes veines ! J’avais reconnu les formidables squales qui nous menaçaient. C’était un couple de tintoréas, requins terribles, à la queue énorme, au regard terne et vitreux, qui distillent une matière phosphorescente par des trous percés autour de leur museau.

Synonyms

houperonsélachimorphesqualechien de mer

This word in other languages

shark(English)tiburón(Español)Hai(Deutsch)tubarão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • erquin
  • reqiun
  • reqquin
  • requinn
  • requni
  • reuqin
  • rqeuin
  • rrequin

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

erquin2reqiun2reqquin1requinn1requni2reuqin2rqeuin2rrequin1
Edit distance from "requin"

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 "requin"?
"requin" is spelled R-E-Q-U-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁə.kɛ̃\.
What does "requin" mean?
As a noun, "requin" means: Espèce de poisson de mer prédateur de la classe des chondrichthyens (Chondrichthyens), à la silhouette fuselée, hydrodynamique, ayant plusieurs rangées de dents tranchantes à chacune des 2 mâchoire...
What words are commonly confused with "requin"?
"requin" is commonly confused with "requis", "return", "requins". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "requin"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "requin" is \ʁə.kɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "requin" come from?
"requin" 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 "requin", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

remets#9,904Sicile#9,913posées#9,894teinte#9,928

Similar misspelling depth

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

nuance8 variantsneiges8 variantsnavette8 variantsVichy8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list