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This lesson is designed for B2 learners and can still help a learner revising the topic at another level.

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French Orthography

Les Pièges Orthographiques Courants

A summary of frequent spelling traps involving double consonants, silent letters, and misleading words.

Level B2 Category Orthography

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Lesson Summary

A summary of frequent spelling traps involving double consonants, silent letters, and misleading words.

Orthographe

The Words That Resist Logic

Certain French words are regularly misspelled even by advanced learners. Their spelling does not always follow the most common rules, and they must be memorised. This lesson groups the most problematic cases.

Frequent Spelling Traps

Category	Incorrect Spelling	Correct Spelling	Rule or Mnemonic
Double consonant	inteligent	intelligent	Two 'l's like in 'intelligence'
Silent letter	rythm	rythme	Always ends with -e
Feminine agreement	heureux → heureuze	heureux → heureuse	-x → -se, not -ze
Nasal confusion	banane → bananne	banane	One 'n', no double
Accent omission	aout	août	The circumflex is required on the 'û'
Homophone	plutôt / plus tôt	plutôt (rather) / plus tôt (earlier)	Two words when meaning 'earlier', one word when meaning 'rather'
Words ending in -ment	évidemment → évidament	évidemment	-ent from adjective + -ment, keep the -e

Method for Improvement

Keeping a personal list of frequently misspelled words and reviewing it regularly is the most effective strategy. When a word is encountered in reading, its spelling should be noted consciously.

Examples

Il est évidemment nécessaire de rythmer ses efforts.
Évidemment (adverb) and rythmer (verb) contain two common traps.
Je préfère le thé plutôt que le café. Je suis arrivé plus tôt que prévu.
The contrast between plutôt (rather) and plus tôt (earlier).