secret

\sə.kʁɛ\

/\sə.kʁɛ\/ adj

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

The verdict

“secret” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,239. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,239
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui n’est connu que d’une personne ou de fort peu de gens ; que l’on tient caché, dont on dérobe la connaissance aux autres.

Corpus desk

Index FR-secret · secret · French

secret · rank #1,239 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,239
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH sciences

Nearest frequency peer: sciences (-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 « secret »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « secret » 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).

secret vs sert
67% similar
secret vs sect
67% similar
secret vs sucre
67% similar

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

Key facts for secret
PropertyValue
Headwordsecret
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\sə.kʁɛ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#1,239
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « secret »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).secretse 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 « sciences » (#1,238), « top » (#1,241), « russe » (#1,236). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « secret » est au #1,239. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around secret (IPA \sə.kʁɛ\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #1,239 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for secret, with forms such as "escret", "sceret", and "seccret". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sert", "sect", "sucre", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is secret, spelled S-E-C-R-E-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui n’est connu que d’une personne ou de fort peu de gens ; que l’on tient caché, dont on dérobe la connaissance aux autres.
  2. 2
    Qualifiait les doctrines et pratiques occultes telles que l’astrologie, la magie, la nécromancie, etc.
  3. 3
    Qualifie un accès dérobé.
  4. 4
    Qualifie les fonds dont un gouvernement use sans être tenu d’en rendre compte.
  5. 5
    Qualifie les personnes qui savent se taire et tenir une chose secrète.
  6. 6
    Qualité d’un chien qui n’aboie pas.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il s’agissait de conférences et de parlottes défaitistes, au cours desquelles il était donné lecture de fragments de séances parlementaires en comité secret, considérés comme aptes à démoraliser les auditeurs, et aussi de tracts et de brochures progermaniques.
  2. Les geais buissonniers multiplient les stratégies pour protéger leurs caches d’éventuels pillages. Une stratégie principale consiste à cacher à nouveau un élément, en le faisant passer de l’endroit où il a été vu par un autre oiseau à un endroit secret.

Synonyms

cachédissimuléméconnu

This word in other languages

secret(English)secreto(Español)geheim(Deutsch)secreto(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • escret
  • sceret
  • seccret
  • secert
  • secrett
  • secrret
  • secrte
  • sercet
  • ssecret

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

escret2sceret2seccret1secert2secrett1secrret1secrte2sercet2
Edit distance from "secret"

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 "secret"?
"secret" is spelled S-E-C-R-E-T. The IPA pronunciation is \sə.kʁɛ\.
What does "secret" mean?
As an adjective, "secret" means: Qui n’est connu que d’une personne ou de fort peu de gens ; que l’on tient caché, dont on dérobe la connaissance aux autres.
What words are commonly confused with "secret"?
"secret" is commonly confused with "sert", "sect", "sucre". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "secret"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "secret" is \sə.kʁɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "secret" come from?
"secret" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "secret", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

direct#1,256divers#1,257effets#1,258envers#1,259

Similar misspelling depth

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

royaume9 variantsvoulais9 variantsregard9 variantsoublier9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list