surprise
\syʁ.pʁiz\
The verdict
“surprise” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #1,350 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,350
- frequency rank, French
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Action par laquelle on surprend.
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 | surprise |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \syʁ.pʁiz\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #1,350 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “surprise” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for surprise is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \syʁ.pʁiz\. Corpus data places it at rank #1,350 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for surprise, with forms such as "sruprise", "ssurprise", and "suprrise". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "surprises", "surpris", "sunrise", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is surprise, spelled S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E.
Definition
- 1Action par laquelle on surprend.
- 2Événement inattendu.
- 3Qui n'est pas attendu.
- 4Qui réserve une surprise; dont le contenu n'est pas révélé d'emblée.
- 5État de l’esprit qui est frappé par quelque chose d’inattendu.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sruprise,ssurprise,suprrise,surpirse,surpprise,surpries,surprisse,surprrise,surprsie,surrpise,surrprise,usrprise
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of surprise - 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 "surprise"?
What does "surprise" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "surprise"?
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What language does "surprise" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “surprise”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \syʁ.pʁiz\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “surprises” - see the side-by-side comparison. surprise vs surprises
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.