spectre

\spɛktʁ\

/\spɛktʁ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“spectre” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #6,558. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#6,558
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fantôme, apparition d’un mort.

Corpus desk

Index FR-spectre · spectre · French

spectre · rank #6,558 · 11 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,558
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH sida

Nearest frequency peer: sida (-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 « spectre »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « spectre » 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).

spectre vs spectres
88% similar
spectre vs spectrum
75% similar
spectre vs secte
71% similar

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

Key facts for spectre
PropertyValue
Headwordspectre
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\spɛktʁ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#6,558
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « spectre »

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

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « sida » (#6,557), « spécialité » (#6,559), « serveurs » (#6,556). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « spectre » est au #6,558. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around spectre (IPA \spɛktʁ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #6,558 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for spectre, with forms such as "psectre", "sepctre", and "spcetre". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "spectres", "spectrum", "secte", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is spectre, spelled S-P-E-C-T-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fantôme, apparition d’un mort.
  2. 2
    Souvenir de personnes disparues.
  3. 3
    Évocation ou apparition effrayante.
  4. 4
    Personne hâve et maigre à faire peur.
  5. 5
    Chimère qu’on se forme dans l’esprit.
  6. 6
    Ensemble des rayonnements de différentes longueurs d’onde, qui résultent de la décomposition de la lumière par un prisme, d’un élément chimique à l’état excité, etc.
  7. 7
    Ensemble des valeurs propres d'un opérateur ou d'une matrice.
  8. 8
    Ensemble de choses assez semblables dont les variations sont déterminées.
  9. 9
    Ensemble des agents infectieux, contaminants ou pathogènes qui sont atteints par une substance curative.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Comment expliquerez-vous, docteur, que des coups donnés par des spectres ont pu faire naître des places noires sur le corps de celui qui les a reçus ?
  2. Une petite pluie mince et tenace dégoulinait sans arrêt depuis la veille et les passants, recroquevillés sous leurs riflards, les yeux rivés sur le pavé en larmes, glissant peureusement parmi les files des voitures serrées, lui fournissaient l’impression vague de spectres titubants.

This word in other languages

specter(English)fantasma(Español)Gespenst(Deutsch)fantasma(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • psectre
  • sepctre
  • spcetre
  • specctre
  • specrte
  • specter
  • spectrre
  • specttre
  • spetcre
  • sppectre
  • sspectre

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

psectre2sepctre2spcetre2specctre1specrte2specter2spectrre1specttre1
Edit distance from "spectre"

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 "spectre"?
"spectre" is spelled S-P-E-C-T-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \spɛktʁ\.
What does "spectre" mean?
As a noun, "spectre" means: Fantôme, apparition d’un mort.
What words are commonly confused with "spectre"?
"spectre" is commonly confused with "spectres", "spectrum", "secte". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "spectre"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "spectre" is \spɛktʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "spectre" come from?
"spectre" 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 "spectre", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

sublime#6,561serpent#6,554tentent#6,563élevées#6,575

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

tactique11 variantséternel11 variantspartielle11 variantsNathalie11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list