banane

\ba.nan\

/\ba.nan\/ noun

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

The verdict

“banane” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #9,433 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#9,433
frequency rank, French
6
letters
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Fruit comestible du bananier, baie de forme allongée, d’abord vert puis jaune ponctué de taches noires à maturité, à chair farineuse.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

banane vs bane
67% similar
banane vs bonne
67% similar
banane vs bande
67% similar

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

Key facts for banane
PropertyValue
Headwordbanane
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ba.nan\
Letters6
Frequency rank#9,433
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “banane” 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). banane 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 banane is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ba.nan\. Corpus data places it at rank #9,433 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for banane, with forms such as "abnane", "baanne", and "banaen". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bane", "bonne", "bande", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is banane, spelled B-A-N-A-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fruit comestible du bananier, baie de forme allongée, d’abord vert puis jaune ponctué de taches noires à maturité, à chair farineuse.
  2. 2
    Sacoche fixée à une ceinture et portée sur le ventre.
  3. 3
    Coiffure donnant au toupet une forme bombée et arrondie sur le front, rappelant une banane.
  4. 4
    Nigaud, personne ayant une pensée naïve ou idiote.
  5. 5
    Mauvaise note.
  6. 6
    Oreille.
  7. 7
    Sourire.
  8. 8
    Sexe de l’homme ; pénis.
  9. 9
    Décoration.
  10. 10
    Surnom donné, à cause de leur forme, aux hélicoptères Piasecki S-21 à double rotor pendant la guerre d’Algérie.
  11. 11
    Galon de l’uniforme d’un gardien.
  12. 12
    Personne asiatique ayant vécu longtemps en Occident.
  13. 13
    Type de piercing qui ressemble à une barre légèrement pliée.

Synonyms

nigaudniguedouilleniquedouillepatatetriple buse

This word in other languages

banana(English)plátano(Español)Banane(Deutsch)banana(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: abnane,baanne,banaen,bananne,bannae,bannane,bbanane,bnaane

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

abnane2baanne2banaen2bananne1bannae2bannane1bbanane1bnaane2
Edit distance from "banane"

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 "banane"?
"banane" is spelled B-A-N-A-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ba.nan\.
What does "banane" mean?
As a noun, "banane" means: Fruit comestible du bananier, baie de forme allongée, d’abord vert puis jaune ponctué de taches noires à maturité, à chair farineuse.
What words are commonly confused with "banane"?
"banane" is commonly confused with "bane", "bonne", "bande". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "banane"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "banane" is \ba.nan\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "banane" come from?
"banane" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 “banane”

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

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