balai

\ba.lɛ\

/\ba.lɛ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“balai” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #15,809 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#15,809
frequency rank, French
5
letters
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Outil fait d’un faisceau souple, composé de fibres végétales ou synthétiques, ou d’une brosse, fixée au bout d’un long manche et destiné à nettoyer les poussières et déchets tombés au sol.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

balai vs ball
60% similar
balai vs bâti
40% similar
balai vs bali
80% similar

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

Key facts for balai
PropertyValue
Headwordbalai
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ba.lɛ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#15,809
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “balai” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). balai lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for balai is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ba.lɛ\. Corpus data places it at rank #15,809 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for balai, with forms such as "ablai", "baali", and "balia". 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, "ball", "bâti", "bali", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is balai, spelled B-A-L-A-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Outil fait d’un faisceau souple, composé de fibres végétales ou synthétiques, ou d’une brosse, fixée au bout d’un long manche et destiné à nettoyer les poussières et déchets tombés au sol.
  2. 2
    Sorte de balai-brosse servant à jouer au curling
  3. 3
    Pièce conductrice, à l’origine flexible, chargée d’assurer une liaison électrique entre un organe fixe et un autre mobile. Il permet par exemple de capter ou d’amener le courant électrique au collecteur ou bagues, d’une machine électrique tournante.
  4. 4
    Instrument pour débarrasser l’œsophage.
  5. 5
    Sorte de pinceau pour faire la peinture sur verre.
  6. 6
    Type de baguette de batterie dont la forme, terminée par des brins en faisceau, rappelle un balai ménager.
  7. 7
    Queue d’un oiseau, ou bout de la queue d’un chien.
  8. 8
    An, quand on donne un âge.
  9. 9
    Droits d'administrateur sur un projet Wikimédia.
  10. 10
    Meuble représentant l’outil du même nom dans les armoiries. Il est représenté en pal, le manche vers le chef.

Synonyms

faubertraimvadrouillecharbonbergepige

This word in other languages

broom(English)escoba(Español)Besen(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ablai,baali,balia,ballai,bbalai,blaai

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ablai2baali2balia2ballai1bbalai1blaai2
Edit distance from "balai"

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 "balai"?
"balai" is spelled B-A-L-A-I. The IPA pronunciation is \ba.lɛ\.
What does "balai" mean?
As a noun, "balai" means: Outil fait d’un faisceau souple, composé de fibres végétales ou synthétiques, ou d’une brosse, fixée au bout d’un long manche et destiné à nettoyer les poussières et déchets tombés au sol.
What words are commonly confused with "balai"?
"balai" is commonly confused with "ball", "bâti", "bali". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "balai"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "balai" is \ba.lɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "balai" come from?
"balai" 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.

Using “balai”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is B-A-L-A-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ba.lɛ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “ball” - see the side-by-side comparison. balai vs ball
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list