ménage
/mɛˈnɑːʒ/
"menage" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ménage” is uncommon English (frequency #73,465 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #73,465
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A household; a domestic situation.
Corpus desk
Index EN-menage · ménage · English
ménage · rank #73,465 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #73,465
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH mycology
Nearest frequency peer: mycology (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
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.
Long-tail ranks near “ménage”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- mulla
mulla
26,540 corpus weight
- muti
muti
26,538 corpus weight
- mycology
mycology
26,537 corpus weight
- ménage
ménage
26,536 corpus weight
- Nakagawa
Nakagawa
26,534 corpus weight
- Naoko
Naoko
26,531 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “ménage” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ménage |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /mɛˈnɑːʒ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #73,465 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ménage” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ménage is uncommon English at frequency #73,465 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /mɛˈnɑːʒ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ménage, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French ménage; compare Middle English menage, a parallel borrowing from an earlier form of the French word. The correct English form is ménage, spelled M-É-N-A-G-E.
Definition
- 1A household; a domestic situation.
- 2A type of cooperative society whereby all members pay a regular sum of savings, or through which goods can be paid for in installments.
- 3A group of people in a sexual relationship; especially, such a group that live together; the relationship itself.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ménage appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"Oh," cried her ladyship, "I see the whole ménage; they will take a first floor over a baker's shop, to save fire, and live upon red herrings during the week, with a mutton chop by way of meat on a Sunday."
It smelled of ether and something else, possibly laudanum. I had never tried the mixture but it seemed to go pretty well with the Geiger ménage.
Etymology
Borrowed from French ménage; compare Middle English menage, a parallel borrowing from an earlier form of the French word.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ménage", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).