secte

\sɛkt\

/\sɛkt\/ noun

The verdict

“secte” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #8,308 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#8,308
frequency rank, French
5
letters
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ensemble de personnes professant une même doctrine religieuse, philosophique ou autre.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

secte vs set
60% similar
secte vs See
40% similar
secte vs ste
60% similar

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

Key facts for secte
PropertyValue
Headwordsecte
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\sɛkt\
Letters5
Frequency rank#8,308
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “secte” 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). secte 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 secte is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \sɛkt\. Corpus data places it at rank #8,308 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 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for secte, with forms such as "escte", "scete", and "seccte". 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, "set", "See", "ste", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is secte, spelled S-E-C-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ensemble de personnes professant une même doctrine religieuse, philosophique ou autre.
  2. 2
    Groupe dissident minoritaire, clos sur lui-même et créé en opposition à des pratiques religieuses dominantes.
  3. 3
    Groupe religieux ou autre dont la visée est d’exploiter ses adeptes au profit d’un ou plusieurs gourous.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: escte,scete,seccte,secet,sectte,setce,ssecte

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

escte2scete2seccte1secet2sectte1setce2ssecte1
Edit distance from "secte"

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 "secte"?
"secte" is spelled S-E-C-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \sɛkt\.
What does "secte" mean?
As a noun, "secte" means: Ensemble de personnes professant une même doctrine religieuse, philosophique ou autre.
What words are commonly confused with "secte"?
"secte" is commonly confused with "set", "See", "ste". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "secte"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "secte" is \sɛkt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "secte" come from?
"secte" 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.

Using “secte”

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

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