ambulance

\ɑ̃.by.lɑ̃s\

/\ɑ̃.by.lɑ̃s\/ noun

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

The verdict

“ambulance” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #11,904. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#11,904
frequency rank, French
6,727
“A” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Véhicule spécialement adapté au transport sanitaire terrestre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ambulance · ambulance · French

ambulance · rank #11,904 · 13 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,904
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,727
  • PHOTO-FINISH ambiguïté

Nearest frequency peer: ambiguïté (-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 « ambulance »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « ambulance » 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).

ambulance vs ambulant
78% similar
ambulance vs ambulants
78% similar
ambulance vs ambulante
89% similar

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

Key facts for ambulance
PropertyValue
Headwordambulance
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɑ̃.by.lɑ̃s\
Letters9
Frequency rank#11,904
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « ambulance »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).ambulancese place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « ambiguïté » (#11,903), « ancienneté » (#11,905), « alphabet » (#11,902). Parmi 6,727 lemmes en « A », « ambulance » est au #11,904. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around ambulance (IPA \ɑ̃.by.lɑ̃s\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #11,904 among 6,727 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for ambulance, with forms such as "abmulance", "ambbulance", and "ambluance". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "ambulant", "ambulants", "ambulante", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is ambulance, spelled A-M-B-U-L-A-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Véhicule spécialement adapté au transport sanitaire terrestre.
  2. 2
    Sorte d’hôpital militaire qui suit une armée, un corps d’armée ou une division pour en recueillir les malades et les blessés.
  3. 3
    Établissement hospitalier temporaire, pour suppléer aux hôpitaux dans une épidémie, durant une guerre ou en cas d’accident.
  4. 4
    Emploi d’un commis qui est obligé de se transporter sur des points divers.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Tantôt il battait la charge, et l’éclair de ses dents blanches passait dans un rire féroce ; ou bien ses yeux se mouillaient à quelque aubade musulmane, sa narine se gonflait, et dans l’odeur fade de l’ambulance, au milieu des fioles et des compresses, il revoyait les bois de Blidah chargés d’oranges et de petites Mauresques sortant du bain, masquées de b…
  2. Plusieurs compagnies manquaient de capitaine. La mienne avait à sa tête un petit lieutenant de mobiles, jeune homme de vingt ans, frêle et pâle, et si peu robuste, qu’après quelques kilomètres, il s’essoufflait, tirait la jambe et terminait l’étape dans un fourgon d’ambulance.

This word in other languages

ambulance(English)ambulancia(Español)Krankenwagen(Deutsch)ambulância(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • abmulance
  • ambbulance
  • ambluance
  • ambualnce
  • ambulacne
  • ambulancce
  • ambulanec
  • ambulannce
  • ambullance
  • ambulnace
  • ammbulance
  • amublance
  • mabulance

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ambulance - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

abmulance2ambbulance1ambluance2ambualnce2ambulacne2ambulancce1ambulanec2ambulannce1
Edit distance from "ambulance"

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 "ambulance"?
"ambulance" is spelled A-M-B-U-L-A-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɑ̃.by.lɑ̃s\.
What does "ambulance" mean?
As a noun, "ambulance" means: Véhicule spécialement adapté au transport sanitaire terrestre.
What words are commonly confused with "ambulance"?
"ambulance" is commonly confused with "ambulant", "ambulants", "ambulante". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ambulance"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ambulance" is \ɑ̃.by.lɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ambulance" come from?
"ambulance" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "ambulance", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

ambiguïté#11,903agréables#11,900apportées#11,910apprendra#11,911

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

ancienneté13 variantsélévation13 variantsbourgeoise13 variantsconduites13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list