beau
\bo\
The verdict
“beau” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #446) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #446
- frequency rank, French
- 4,251
- “B” headwords
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - D’aspect agréable à l’œil ou à l’oreille.
Corpus desk
Index FR-beau · beau · French
beau · rank #446 · 4 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #446
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 4 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,251
- PHOTO-FINISH Art
Nearest frequency peer: Art (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “beau”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- vidéo
vidéo
99,558 corpus weight
- amis
amis
99,557 corpus weight
- Art
Art
99,556 corpus weight
- beau
beau
99,555 corpus weight
- compris
compris
99,554 corpus weight
- gauche
gauche
99,553 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “beau” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | beau |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \bo\ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #446 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “beau” sits in French frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for beau is neighbouring look-alikes ("bu", "ben", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced \bo\. Frequency #446 among 4,251 “B” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for beau, with forms such as "baeu", "bbeau", and "beua". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bu", "ben", "bel", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is beau, spelled B-E-A-U.
Definition
- 1D’aspect agréable à l’œil ou à l’oreille.
- 2Agréable.
- 3Qualifie un temps ensoleillé.
- 4Gros.
- 5Grand.
- 6Dans les noms composés de parenté, indique que la relation est due à une alliance (incluant un second mariage).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how beau appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Il n’y a de beau que ce qui nous semble inutile !
On ne pouvait voir de fille plus fraîche, plus riante ; elle était blonde, avec de beaux yeux bleus, des joues roses et des dents blanches comme du lait ; […].
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- baeu
- bbeau
- beua
- ebau
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of beau - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "beau"?
What does "beau" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "beau"?
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "beau", not the corpus desk frequency band.
What to do next
You've looked up "beau". Here's where to go from here.
- "beau" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "bu". View pair
- 4 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #446 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "B" letter cohort. B–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.