Selma

\sɛl.ma\

/\sɛl.ma\/ name

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

The verdict

“Selma” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #33,892. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#33,892
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Prénom féminin.

Corpus desk

Index FR-selma · Selma · French

Selma · rank #33,892 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #33,892
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH scruter

Nearest frequency peer: scruter (-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 « Selma »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « Selma » 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).

Selma vs sem
40% similar
Selma vs sera
40% similar
Selma vs semé
40% similar

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

Key facts for Selma
PropertyValue
HeadwordSelma
LanguageFrench
Part of speechProper noun
IPA\sɛl.ma\
Letters5
Frequency rank#33,892
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « Selma »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).Selmase 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 « scruter » (#33,891), « sentirais » (#33,893), « sarcasmes » (#33,890). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « Selma » est au #33,892. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around Selma (IPA \sɛl.ma\), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #33,892 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Prénom féminin.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for Selma, with forms such as "eslma", "selam", and "sellma". 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, "sem", "sera", "semé", 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 easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is Selma, spelled S-E-L-M-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Prénom féminin.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. La jeune Montpelliéraine et Selma Bacha, incertaines, se sont entraînées avec le groupe vendredi et semblent aptes pour jouer samedi, a précisé l’encadrement des Bleues.

This word in other languages

Selma(English)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • eslma
  • selam
  • sellma
  • selmma
  • semla
  • slema
  • sselma

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

eslma2selam2sellma1selmma1semla2slema2sselma1
Edit distance from "Selma"

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 "Selma"?
"Selma" is spelled S-E-L-M-A. The IPA pronunciation is \sɛl.ma\.
What does "Selma" mean?
As a proper noun, "Selma" means: Prénom féminin.
What words are commonly confused with "Selma"?
"Selma" is commonly confused with "sem", "sera", "semé". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Selma"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Selma" is \sɛl.ma\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Selma" come from?
"Selma" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "Selma", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

shiny#33,896teams#33,911ricci#33,872tisse#33,917

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

Tirade7 variantsTPMP7 variantsvains7 variantspesée7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list