au bout du fil
\o bu dy fil\
The verdict
“au bout du fil” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as an adverb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Accroché à un fil.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | au bout du fil |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \o bu dy fil\ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “au bout du fil” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for au bout du fil is 14 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \o bu dy fil\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for au bout du fil, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is au bout du fil, spelled A-U- -B-O-U-T- -D-U- -F-I-L.
Definition
- 1Accroché à un fil.
- 2Au téléphone, désigne une personne à qui l’on parle à distance.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “au bout du fil”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is A-U- -B-O-U-T- -D-U- -F-I-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \o bu dy fil\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.