appui

\a.pɥi\

/\a.pɥi\/ noun

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

The verdict

“appui” sits in 19 confusable pairs (corpus #2,755) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#2,755
frequency rank, French
6,727
“A” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
19
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ce qui sert à soutenir une chose ou une personne pour l’empêcher de tomber, de chanceler, etc.

Corpus desk

Index FR-appui · appui · French

appui · rank #2,755 · 4 variants · 19 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,755
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 19 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,727
  • PHOTO-FINISH angle

Nearest frequency peer: angle (-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.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « appui »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « appui » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

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).

appui vs apu
60% similar
appui vs appuie
83% similar
appui vs appuyé
67% similar

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

Key facts for appui
PropertyValue
Headwordappui
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\a.pɥi\
Letters5
Frequency rank#2,755
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs19
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « appui »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).appuise place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « angle » (#2,754), « attaques » (#2,756), « affirme » (#2,753). Parmi 6,727 lemmes en « A », « appui » est au #2,755. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for appui is neighbouring look-alikes ("apu", "appuie", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \a.pɥi\. Frequency #2,755 among 6,727 “A” headwords. 13 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for appui, with forms such as "appiu", "apui", and "apupi". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "apu", "appuie", "appuyé", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is appui, spelled A-P-P-U-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ce qui sert à soutenir une chose ou une personne pour l’empêcher de tomber, de chanceler, etc.
  2. 2
    Ce sur quoi on s’appuie.
  3. 3
    La partie d’une fenêtre, d’une balustrade, etc., sur laquelle on peut s’appuyer.
  4. 4
    Le point d’appui d’un levier; Le point du levier qui est fixe, ou censé tel, et autour duquel s’opère sa rotation.
  5. 5
    Sensation que fait éprouver à la main du cavalier l’action du mors sur les barres du cheval.
  6. 6
    Temps pendant lequel, dans la marche, le pied du cheval pose sur le sol.
  7. 7
    Élévation plus ou moins sensible de la voix dans le phrasé.
  8. 8
    Aide ; protection.
  9. 9
    Personnes ou choses dont on tire de la protection, du secours.
  10. 10
    L’élévation plus ou moins sensible de la voix sur une syllabe.
  11. 11
    Poteau utilisé comme support de câbles aériens
  12. 12
    Position des pieds.
  13. 13
    Fait d'appuyer

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Une grande terrasse dallée, entourée d’un mur à hauteur d’appui, s’étendait devant la porte d’entrée.
  2. Mettre un appui, des appuis à un mur. Cette muraille a besoin d’appui. Si on ne donne un appui à cet arbre, le vent l’abattra.

This word in other languages

prop(English)apoyo(Español)Stütze(Deutsch)apoio(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • appiu
  • apui
  • apupi
  • papui

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

appiu2apui1apupi2papui2
Edit distance from "appui"

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 "appui"?
"appui" is spelled A-P-P-U-I. The IPA pronunciation is \a.pɥi\.
What does "appui" mean?
As a noun, "appui" means: Ce qui sert à soutenir une chose ou une personne pour l’empêcher de tomber, de chanceler, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "appui"?
"appui" is commonly confused with "apu", "appuie", "appuyé". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "appui"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "appui" is \a.pɥi\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "appui" come from?
"appui" 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 "appui", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

angle#2,754auras#2,757bière#2,761chère#2,764

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list