séance

\se.ɑ̃s\

/\se.ɑ̃s\/ noun

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

The verdict

“séance” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,789. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,789
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
11
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Droit de prendre place dans une compagnie.

Corpus desk

Index FR-seance · séance · French

séance · rank #1,789 · 9 variants · 11 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,789
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 11 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH supérieure

Nearest frequency peer: supérieure (-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 « séance »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « séance » 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).

séance vs seine
50% similar
séance vs space
67% similar
séance vs sente
50% similar

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

Key facts for séance
PropertyValue
Headwordséance
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\se.ɑ̃s\
Letters6
Frequency rank#1,789
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs11
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « séance »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).séancese 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 « supérieure » (#1,788), « sois » (#1,787), « Thomas » (#1,791). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « séance » est au #1,789. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around séance (IPA \se.ɑ̃s\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,789 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for séance, with forms such as "saénce", "seance", and "sséance". 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, "seine", "space", "sente", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is séance, spelled S-É-A-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Droit de prendre place dans une compagnie.
  2. 2
    Réunion, assemblée des membres d’un tribunal, d’un corps, d’une compagnie.
  3. 3
    Temps qu’on passe à table, dans une partie de jeu, dans une visite, etc.
  4. 4
    Il se dit encore du temps pendant lequel une personne pose devant un sculpteur, un dessinateur, un peintre, un photographe.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Prendre séance.
  2. En ouvrant la séance, M. Hibon, président sortant, adresse ses remerciements pour le grand honneur, qui, dit-il, fut fait à un amateur de présider les travaux de la Société en 1936, puis il prie M. Allorge de lui succéder au fauteuil présidentiel.

This word in other languages

session(English)sesión(Español)Sitzung(Deutsch)sessão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • saénce
  • seance
  • sséance
  • séacne
  • séancce
  • séanec
  • séannce
  • sénace
  • ésance

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

saénce2seance1sséance1séacne2séancce1séanec2séannce1sénace2
Edit distance from "séance"

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 "séance"?
"séance" is spelled S-É-A-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \se.ɑ̃s\.
What does "séance" mean?
As a noun, "séance" means: Droit de prendre place dans une compagnie.
What words are commonly confused with "séance"?
"séance" is commonly confused with "seine", "space", "sente". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "séance"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "séance" is \se.ɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "séance" come from?
"séance" 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 "séance", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Thomas#1,791pensez#1,782obligé#1,780minute#1,778

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

cancer9 variantsjardin9 variantsindique9 variantsfleurs9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list