appel

\a.pɛl\

/\a.pɛl\/ noun

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

The verdict

“appel” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #703) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#703
frequency rank, French
6,727
“A” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Action d’appeler par la voix, par un geste ou par tout autre signal, pour faire venir à soi.

Corpus desk

Index FR-appel · appel · French

appel · rank #703 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #703
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,727
  • PHOTO-FINISH veulent

Nearest frequency peer: veulent (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “appel”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “appel” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

appel vs apte
60% similar
appel vs axel
60% similar
appel vs apps
60% similar

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

Key facts for appel
PropertyValue
Headwordappel
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\a.pɛl\
Letters5
Frequency rank#703
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “appel” se place dans la fréquence du français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.appelse 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 « veulent » (#702), « celles » (#704), « texte » (#701). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for appel is neighbouring look-alikes ("apte", "axel", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \a.pɛl\. Frequency #703 among 6,727 “A” headwords. 16 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for appel, with forms such as "apel", "apepl", and "appell". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "apte", "axel", "apps", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is appel, spelled A-P-P-E-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Action d’appeler par la voix, par un geste ou par tout autre signal, pour faire venir à soi.
  2. 2
    Lors d’une progression en virée, annonce à haute voix des arbres marqués afin qu’ils soient enregistrés par le pointeur et que les autres membres des virées soient informés du marquage effectué.
  3. 3
    Entrée en communication par l’intermédiaire du téléphone.
  4. 4
    Action d’appeler au moyen d’un signal des personnes à s’assembler.
  5. 5
    Action de réclamer, d’invoquer.
  6. 6
    Élan que l’on prend en appuyant sur le sol le pied qui va assurer la projection du corps.
  7. 7
    : Battement du pied fait sur place pour commencer l’attaque.
  8. 8
    Action d’appeler à haute voix des personnes qui doivent se trouver dans une classe, un groupe, etc., afin de s’assurer qu’elles sont présentes.
  9. 9
    Demander à ce qu’une affaire soit rejugée en seconde instance.
  10. 10
    Action d’appeler à haute voix chaque membre d’une assemblée parlementaire pour qu’il exprime son opinion ou donne son vote.
  11. 11
    Provocation en duel, un cartel. On dit plus ordinairement défi.
  12. 12
    Action d’appeler des conscrits sous les drapeaux.
  13. 13
    Utilisation d'une variable connue ou exécution d’une fonction connue.
  14. 14
    Fait de se sentir irrésistiblement enjoint de faire un choix de vie crucial.
  15. 15
    (Vocabulaire technique) et Définition manquante ou à compléter. (Ajouter)
  16. 16
    Introduction d’adresse polie et formelle au destinataire.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Mais un appel connu des Bretons frappa son oreille le chant du hibou, qui fut le cri de ralliement des Chouans et qu'on n'entend jamais à Paris.
  2. — Reviens, reviens, criaient les camarades ; reviens vite ! Lebrac, aux trois quarts enlisé, céda à leurs appels et voulut tourner bride.

This word in other languages

call(English)llamamiento(Español)Ruf(Deutsch)chamada(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • apel
  • apepl
  • appell
  • papel

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of appel - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

apel1apepl2appell1papel2
Edit distance from "appel"

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 "appel"?
"appel" is spelled A-P-P-E-L. The IPA pronunciation is \a.pɛl\.
What does "appel" mean?
As a noun, "appel" means: Action d’appeler par la voix, par un geste ou par tout autre signal, pour faire venir à soi.
What words are commonly confused with "appel"?
"appel" is commonly confused with "apte", "axel", "apps". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "appel"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "appel" is \a.pɛl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "appel" come from?
"appel" 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 "appel", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

texte#701salle#700poste#695carte#716

What to do next

You've looked up "appel". Here's where to go from here.

  • "appel" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "apte". View pair
  • 4 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #703 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "A" letter cohort. A–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list