section

\sɛk.sjɔ̃\

/\sɛk.sjɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“section” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,574. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,574
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
9
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Action de couper, de diviser ou résultat de cette action.

Corpus desk

Index FR-section · section · French

section · rank #1,574 · 10 variants · 9 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,574
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH sent

Nearest frequency peer: sent (+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 « section »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « section » 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).

section vs station
71% similar
section vs session
71% similar
section vs sections
88% similar

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

Key facts for section
PropertyValue
Headwordsection
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\sɛk.sjɔ̃\
Letters7
Frequency rank#1,574
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs9
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « section »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.sectionse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « sent » (#1,575), « Rome » (#1,572), « signifie » (#1,576). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « section » est au #1,574. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around section (IPA \sɛk.sjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,574 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for section, with forms such as "esction", "scetion", and "secction". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "station", "session", "sections", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is section, spelled S-E-C-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Action de couper, de diviser ou résultat de cette action.
  2. 2
    Division ou subdivision d’un ouvrage, d’un traité, d’un compte, d’une ville, d’un tribunal, d’un conseil, d’une académie, d’un établissement d’enseignement, fraction d’un corps de troupe, etc.
  3. 3
    Assemblée générale permanente révolutionnaire durant la Convention.
  4. 4
    Petite unité, subdivisée en escouades et regroupée en pelotons.
  5. 5
    Désigne, dans certaines écoles, celui qui est le premier de sa promotion.
  6. 6
    se dit de la ligne, de la surface suivant laquelle se coupent deux surfaces, un volume et une surface.
  7. 7
    Document graphique représentant exclusivement l’intersection du plan de coupe et de la matière de l’élément.
  8. 8
    Taxon de bas niveau, placé immédiatement sous le sous-genre.
  9. 9
    Subdivision des communes correspondant aux anciennes communes avant la fusion des communes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On peut même couper avec des ciseaux les deux antennes d'un Zygène sans troubler son repas, bien qu'une goutte de sang jaune vienne perler sur la surface de section.
  2. Dans ceux de Vouziers et d'Attigny, on la limite aux villages de Tourcelles-Chaumont, Quilly et Chardeny, trois communes aujourd'hui distinctes, mais réunies en 1828 en une seule municipalité. Tourcelles avait alors comme sections ou écarts : Chaumont, Quilly, Chardeny, le moulin de Chartogne, le Cloux et le Chauffour : c'est toute la région qui nous occupe.

Synonyms

coupecoupuredivisionintersection

This word in other languages

section(English)departamento(Español)Sektion(Deutsch)seção(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • esction
  • scetion
  • secction
  • seciton
  • sectino
  • sectionn
  • sectoin
  • secttion
  • setcion
  • ssection

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

esction2scetion2secction1seciton2sectino2sectionn1sectoin2secttion1
Edit distance from "section"

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 "section"?
"section" is spelled S-E-C-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \sɛk.sjɔ̃\.
What does "section" mean?
As a noun, "section" means: Action de couper, de diviser ou résultat de cette action.
What words are commonly confused with "section"?
"section" is commonly confused with "station", "session", "sections". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "section"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "section" is \sɛk.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "section" come from?
"section" 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 "section", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Algérie#1,580château#1,586dommage#1,559contenu#1,558

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

crédit10 variantscommunes10 variantsmachine10 variantsnaturel10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list