balme
\balm\
The verdict
“balme” is uncommon French (frequency #66,518 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,518
- frequency rank, French
- 4,251
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Renfoncement sous un rocher surplombant formant un abri, abri-sous-roche, caverne peu profonde, grotte.
Corpus desk
Index FR-balme · balme · French
balme · rank #66,518 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #66,518
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,251
- PHOTO-FINISH banderas
Nearest frequency peer: banderas (+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.
Rangs de longue queue près de « balme »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- Baidu
Baidu
33,488 corpus weight
- balme
balme
33,483 corpus weight
- banderas
banderas
33,482 corpus weight
- bare
bare
33,481 corpus weight
- barrant
barrant
33,480 corpus weight
- barrier
barrier
33,479 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « balme » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | balme |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \balm\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #66,518 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « balme » en français
Rare enough to double-check
balme is uncommon French at frequency #66,518 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \balm\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
balme doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is balme, spelled B-A-L-M-E.
Definition
- 1Renfoncement sous un rocher surplombant formant un abri, abri-sous-roche, caverne peu profonde, grotte.
- 2Talus, côteau d'un fossé.
- 3Ondulation du terrain dans un jeu de boules.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how balme appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Le château domine une balme boisée (dépendante de la propriété) de 600 mètres de longueur, élevée de 34 mètres au-dessus de la rivière d’Ain, et au bas de laquelle coule une lône très poissonneuse (alimentée par les sources de la balme).
A partir de ce dernier village le fleuve borde le chemin de fer, qui n’est séparé de la route que par les balmes du Rhône.
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 "balme"?
What does "balme" mean?
How do you pronounce "balme"?
What language does "balme" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "balme", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).