madeleine
/ˈmad(ə)lɪn/
"madeleine" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“madeleine” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,962 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,962
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A French type of small gateau or sponge cake, often shaped like an elongated scallop shell.
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 | madeleine |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmad(ə)lɪn/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #16,962 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “madeleine” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for madeleine is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmad(ə)lɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,962 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 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 madeleine, with forms such as "amdeleine", "maddeleine", and "madeeline". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Madeline", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from French madeleine, from earlier gâteau à la Madeleine, after the given name Madeleine (“Magdalene”), of uncertain reference: attributed in some sources to a 19th-century pastry cook Madeleine Paulmier, whose existence is now consider… The correct English form is madeleine, spelled M-A-D-E-L-E-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1A French type of small gateau or sponge cake, often shaped like an elongated scallop shell.
- 2Something which brings back a memory; a source of nostalgia or evocative memories.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French madeleine, from earlier gâteau à la Madeleine, after the given name Madeleine (“Magdalene”), of uncertain reference: attributed in some sources to a 19th-century pastry cook Madeleine Paulmier, whose existence is now considered dubious. In sense 2, used with reference to the cake's function in the extract below, taken from Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amdeleine,maddeleine,madeeline,madeleien,madeleinne,madelenie,madeliene,madelleine,madleeine,maedleine,mdaeleine,mmadeleine
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of madeleine - 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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "madeleine"?
What does "madeleine" mean?
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Using “madeleine”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-D-E-L-E-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmad(ə)lɪn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Madeline” - see the side-by-side comparison. madeleine vs Madeline
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English 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.