santé

\sɑ̃.te\

/\sɑ̃.te\/ noun

The verdict

“santé” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #496 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#496
frequency rank, French
5
letters
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - État sain de l’organisme.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

santé vs ste
40% similar
santé vs sat
60% similar
santé vs sont
60% similar

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

Key facts for santé
PropertyValue
Headwordsanté
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\sɑ̃.te\
Letters5
Frequency rank#496
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “santé” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). santé lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for santé is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \sɑ̃.te\. Corpus data places it at rank #496 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 5 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 santé, with forms such as "asnté", "sannté", and "sante". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ste", "sat", "sont", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is santé, spelled S-A-N-T-É.

Definition

  1. 1
    État sain de l’organisme.
  2. 2
    Bon état du moral, de la raison.
  3. 3
    État de l’organisme, bon ou mauvais ; manière dont on se porte.
  4. 4
    Verre bu en souhaitant à quelqu’un d’être en bonne santé.
  5. 5
    Lieu où l’on retient en quarantaine, après leur débarquement, les voyageurs arrivant d’un pays où règne une maladie épidémique ou contagieuse.

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: asnté,sannté,sante,santté,sanét,satné,snaté,ssanté

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

asnté2sannté1sante1santté1sanét2satné2snaté2ssanté1
Edit distance from "santé"

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 "santé"?
"santé" is spelled S-A-N-T-É. The IPA pronunciation is \sɑ̃.te\.
What does "santé" mean?
As a noun, "santé" means: État sain de l’organisme.
What words are commonly confused with "santé"?
"santé" is commonly confused with "ste", "sat", "sont". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "santé"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "santé" is \sɑ̃.te\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "santé" come from?
"santé" 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.

Using “santé”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is S-A-N-T-É - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \sɑ̃.te\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “ste” - see the side-by-side comparison. santé vs ste
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list