aïeul

\a.jœl\

/\a.jœl\/ noun

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

The verdict

“aïeul” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #42,758. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#42,758
frequency rank, French
6,727
“A” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Grand-parent.

Corpus desk

Index FR-aieul · aïeul · French

aïeul · rank #42,758 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #42,758
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,727
  • PHOTO-FINISH axiale

Nearest frequency peer: axiale (-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 « aïeul »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « aïeul » 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).

aïeul vs ail
40% similar
aïeul vs aveu
60% similar
aïeul vs axel
60% similar

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

Key facts for aïeul
PropertyValue
Headwordaïeul
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\a.jœl\
Letters5
Frequency rank#42,758
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « aïeul »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).aïeulse 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 « axiale » (#42,757), « bactériennes » (#42,759), « aveugler » (#42,756). Parmi 6,727 lemmes en « A », « aïeul » est au #42,758. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around aïeul (IPA \a.jœl\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #42,758 among 6,727 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for aïeul, with forms such as "aeïul", "aïelu", and "aïeull". 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, "ail", "aveu", "axel", 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 to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is aïeul, spelled A-Ï-E-U-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Grand-parent.
  2. 2
    Rang de la génération au-delà des grand-parents, pour les générations au-delà de trisaïeul.
  3. 3
    Vieillard.
  4. 4
    Personne dont on descend.
  5. 5
    Forme ancienne d'une réalité ultérieure.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les enfants arrêtaient sur leur aïeul des yeux d'une pénétrante vivacité.
  2. Une partie de cette grande fortune fut dépensée à la cour de France par l’aïeul et le bisaïeul du comte Charles; son père en dissipa le reste, et ne lui laissa que des terres grevées d’obligations et d’hypothèques.

Synonyms

aînéancêtreancienascendantauteurdevancierparentpèreprédécesseur

This word in other languages

grandparent(English)abuelo(Español)Ahn(Deutsch)avô(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • aeïul
  • aïelu
  • aïeull
  • aïuel
  • ïaeul

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

aeïul2aïelu2aïeull1aïuel2ïaeul2
Edit distance from "aïeul"

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 "aïeul"?
"aïeul" is spelled A-Ï-E-U-L. The IPA pronunciation is \a.jœl\.
What does "aïeul" mean?
As a noun, "aïeul" means: Grand-parent.
What words are commonly confused with "aïeul"?
"aïeul" is commonly confused with "ail", "aveu", "axel". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "aïeul"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "aïeul" is \a.jœl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "aïeul" come from?
"aïeul" 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 "aïeul", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

atoll#42,748têtue#42,667flyer#42,882Staps#42,632

Similar misspelling depth

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

Bona5 variantsbuée5 variantsallain5 variantsvoid5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list