sternum
\stɛʁ.nɔm\
The verdict
“sternum” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #44,750. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #44,750
- frequency rank, French
- 394,209
- “S” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Partie osseuse et aplatie qui s’étend du haut en bas de la partie antérieure de la poitrine et avec laquelle les côtes et les clavicules sont articulées.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sternum |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \stɛʁ.nɔm\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #44,750 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sternum” sits in French frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around sternum (IPA \stɛʁ.nɔm\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #44,750 among 394,209 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Partie osseuse et aplatie qui s’étend du haut en bas de la partie antérieure de la poitrine et avec laquelle les côtes et les clavicules sont articulées.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for sternum, with forms such as "setrnum", "ssternum", and "stenrum". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "sérum", "Stern", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No documented word history exists 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 sternum, spelled S-T-E-R-N-U-M.
Definition
- 1Partie osseuse et aplatie qui s’étend du haut en bas de la partie antérieure de la poitrine et avec laquelle les côtes et les clavicules sont articulées.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: setrnum,ssternum,stenrum,sternmu,sternnum,sternumm,sterrnum,sterunm,strenum,stternum,tsernum
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sternum - 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.
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 "sternum"?
What does "sternum" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "sternum"?
How do you pronounce "sternum"?
What language does "sternum" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “sternum”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is S-T-E-R-N-U-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \stɛʁ.nɔm\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sérum” - see the side-by-side comparison. sternum vs sérum
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Same frequency band
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.