signifier

\si.ɲi.fje\

/\si.ɲi.fje\/ verb

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

The verdict

“signifier” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #10,408. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#10,408
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Indiquer, marquer quelque chose, avoir comme sens.

Corpus desk

Index FR-signifier · signifier · French

signifier · rank #10,408 · 13 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #10,408
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH sentence

Nearest frequency peer: sentence (-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 « signifier »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « signifier » 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).

signifier vs signifie
89% similar
signifier vs signifient
80% similar

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

Key facts for signifier
PropertyValue
Headwordsignifier
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\si.ɲi.fje\
Letters9
Frequency rank#10,408
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « signifier »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).signifierse 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 « sentence » (#10,407), « soul » (#10,409), « senior » (#10,406). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « signifier » est au #10,408. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around signifier (IPA \si.ɲi.fje\), averb. Corpus frequency is #10,408 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for signifier, with forms such as "isgnifier", "sginifier", and "siggnifier". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "signifie", "signifient", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is signifier, spelled S-I-G-N-I-F-I-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Indiquer, marquer quelque chose, avoir comme sens.
  2. 2
    Exprimer ce qu’on entend par un mot, par une locution, par une phrase, en parlant de langue et de grammaire.
  3. 3
    Notifier, déclarer, faire connaître quelque chose par des signes évidents, des paroles expresses.
  4. 4
    Notifier par voie de justice, par ministère d’huissier.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. L’eau-de-vie ordinaire est généralement à 49°, et l’esprit connu sous le nom de trois-six à 84° ; cela signifie que ces esprits contiennent respectivement 49 et 84 % d’alcool pur.
  2. Elle soupira en souriant, me jeta un regard de détresse qui signifiait : « Dieu ! que les hommes sont bêtes ! ».

This word in other languages

mean(English)significar(Español)bedeuten(Deutsch)denotar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • isgnifier
  • sginifier
  • siggnifier
  • siginfier
  • signfiier
  • signifeir
  • signiffier
  • signifierr
  • signifire
  • signiifer
  • signnifier
  • singifier
  • ssignifier

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

isgnifier2sginifier2siggnifier1siginfier2signfiier2signifeir2signiffier1signifierr1
Edit distance from "signifier"

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 "signifier"?
"signifier" is spelled S-I-G-N-I-F-I-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \si.ɲi.fje\.
What does "signifier" mean?
As a verb, "signifier" means: Indiquer, marquer quelque chose, avoir comme sens.
What words are commonly confused with "signifier"?
"signifier" is commonly confused with "signifie", "signifient". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "signifier"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "signifier" is \si.ɲi.fje\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "signifier" come from?
"signifier" 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 "signifier", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

suffisait#10,415surveille#10,416resteront#10,394véronique#10,427

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

successives13 variantsrécolter13 variantsséparent13 variantstransmet13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list