vanité

\va.ni.te\

/\va.ni.te\/ noun

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

The verdict

“vanité” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #20,884. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#20,884
frequency rank, French
148,117
“V” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Caractère de ce qui est vain, futile.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

vanité vs vite
50% similar
vanité vs vente
50% similar
vanité vs vaste
50% similar

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

Key facts for vanité
PropertyValue
Headwordvanité
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\va.ni.te\
Letters6
Frequency rank#20,884
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “vanité” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). vanité lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around vanité (IPA \va.ni.te\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #20,884 among 148,117 “V” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for vanité, with forms such as "avnité", "vainté", and "vanite". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vite", "vente", "vaste", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists 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 vanité, spelled V-A-N-I-T-É.

Definition

  1. 1
    Caractère de ce qui est vain, futile.
  2. 2
    Inutilité, inconsistance.
  3. 3
    Désir de se faire valoir, fatuité.
  4. 4
    Fierté excessive, amour-propre frivole.
  5. 5
    Peinture de genre signifiant le temps, la mort, l’instabilité des choses, à l’aide de composition d’objets périssables, tels que bougie, crâne, sablier, végétaux.
  6. 6
    Bijou, bague, orné d’une tête de mort.
  7. 7
    Mondanités, frivolités, futilités.

Synonyms

fatuitéfiertéfrivolitéfutilité

Antonyms

modestie

This word in other languages

vanity(English)Eitelkeit(Deutsch)frivolidade(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • avnité
  • vainté
  • vanite
  • vanitté
  • vaniét
  • vannité
  • vantié
  • vnaité
  • vvanité

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

avnité2vainté2vanite1vanitté1vaniét2vannité1vantié2vnaité2
Edit distance from "vanité"

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 "vanité"?
"vanité" is spelled V-A-N-I-T-É. The IPA pronunciation is \va.ni.te\.
What does "vanité" mean?
As a noun, "vanité" means: Caractère de ce qui est vain, futile.
What words are commonly confused with "vanité"?
"vanité" is commonly confused with "vite", "vente", "vaste". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vanité"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vanité" is \va.ni.te\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "vanité" come from?
"vanité" 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.

Using “vanité”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is V-A-N-I-T-É - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \va.ni.te\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “vite” - see the side-by-side comparison. vanité vs vite
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list