requin
\ʁə.kɛ̃\
The verdict
“requin” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #9,907 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #9,907
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 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...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | requin |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ʁə.kɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #9,907 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “requin” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for requin is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʁə.kɛ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #9,907 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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
- 1Espèce 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).
- 2La chair d'un de ces animaux pour l'alimentation humaine.
- 3Personne avide et cupide qui réussit dans les affaires.
This word in other languages
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.
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"?
What does "requin" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "requin"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “requin”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is R-E-Q-U-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ʁə.kɛ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “requis” - see the side-by-side comparison. requin vs requis
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.