usage

\y.zaʒ\

/\y.zaʒ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“usage” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,243. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,243
frequency rank, French
456
“U” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
13
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Coutume ; pratique reçue.

Corpus desk

Index FR-usage · usage · French

usage · rank #1,243 · 6 variants · 13 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,243
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 456
  • PHOTO-FINISH totalement

Nearest frequency peer: totalement (-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 « usage »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « usage » 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).

usage vs usé
40% similar
usage vs usée
60% similar
usage vs usine
60% similar

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

Key facts for usage
PropertyValue
Headwordusage
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\y.zaʒ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#1,243
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « usage »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).usagese 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 « totalement » (#1,242), « week » (#1,244), « top » (#1,241). Parmi 456 lemmes en « U », « usage » est au #1,243. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around usage (IPA \y.zaʒ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,243 among 456 “U” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for usage, with forms such as "suage", "uasge", and "usaeg". 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 13 confusable-pair relationships, "usé", "usée", "usine", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is usage, spelled U-S-A-G-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Coutume ; pratique reçue.
  2. 2
    Habitude, pratique particulière.
  3. 3
    Connaissance pratique acquise par l’expérience.
  4. 4
    Expérience de la société, habitude d’en pratiquer les devoirs, d’en observer les règles.
  5. 5
    Emploi d’une chose.
  6. 6
    Utilité, possibilité d’emploi d’une chose.
  7. 7
    Emploi qu’on fait des mots de la langue, tel que la coutume l’a réglé.
  8. 8
    Emploi personnel qu’on fait des mots.
  9. 9
    Usufruit, droit de se servir personnellement d’une chose dont la propriété est à un autre.
  10. 10
    Usufruit, droit de se servir personnellement d’une chose dont la propriété est à un autre.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il aimait fort les chansons de table ; et en cela il n'est pas blâmable, car depuis qu’elles ne sont plus d’usage le Français a beaucoup perdu de sa gaîté.
  2. Comme les chorfa descendent du Prophète, ils appartiennent à la plus pure noblesse musulmane, et leur illustre ascendance, par un usage spécial au Maghreb, leur vaut les plus extraordinaires avantages.

Synonyms

ususancehabitudeexpérienceutilisationemploiutilité

This word in other languages

usage(English)costumbre(Español)Brauch(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • suage
  • uasge
  • usaeg
  • usagge
  • usgae
  • ussage

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

suage2uasge2usaeg2usagge1usgae2ussage1
Edit distance from "usage"

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 "usage"?
"usage" is spelled U-S-A-G-E. The IPA pronunciation is \y.zaʒ\.
What does "usage" mean?
As a noun, "usage" means: Coutume ; pratique reçue.
What words are commonly confused with "usage"?
"usage" is commonly confused with "usé", "usée", "usine". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "usage"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "usage" is \y.zaʒ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "usage" come from?
"usage" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "usage", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

beaux#1,247russe#1,236poser#1,232coups#1,227

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

cité6 variantsrêve6 variantsJohn6 variantsbébé6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list