belle

\bɛl\

/\bɛl\/ noun

The verdict

“belle” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #398. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#398
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Femme qui a de la beauté, de l’agrément, et, d’une manière générale, une femme.

Corpus desk

Index FR-belle · belle · French

belle · rank #398 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #398
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH aide

Nearest frequency peer: aide (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “belle”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “belle” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

belle vs blé
40% similar
belle vs blue
60% similar
belle vs bull
60% similar

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

Key facts for belle
PropertyValue
Headwordbelle
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bɛl\
Letters5
Frequency rank#398
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “belle” se place dans la fréquence du français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).bellese place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « aide » (#397), « choix » (#399), « ah » (#396). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around belle (IPA \bɛl\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #398 among 4,251 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for belle, with forms such as "bbelle", "bele", and "belel". 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, "blé", "blue", "bull", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is belle, spelled B-E-L-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Femme qui a de la beauté, de l’agrément, et, d’une manière générale, une femme.
  2. 2
    Partie qui doit décider de l’avantage entre deux joueurs ayant eu jusque-là des chances égales.
  3. 3
    Embelle.
  4. 4
    La liberté, pour le prisonnier.
  5. 5
    Petite amie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how belle appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Souvent m’esbats, et mon cœur est marri : Je vis en deuil et en grand’ déplaisance, Toutes les fois qu’il me vient souvenance De la belle qui vers moi a failli.
  2. J’admire les discours que tenoit cette belle, Quand, tout ravy de l’écouter, Je fus quelque temps à douter Si quelque Dieu parloit en elle.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbelle
  • bele
  • belel
  • blele
  • eblle

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of belle - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

bbelle1bele1belel2blele2eblle2
Edit distance from "belle"

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 "belle"?
"belle" is spelled B-E-L-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \bɛl\.
What does "belle" mean?
As a noun, "belle" means: Femme qui a de la beauté, de l’agrément, et, d’une manière générale, une femme.
What words are commonly confused with "belle"?
"belle" is commonly confused with "blé", "blue", "bull". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "belle"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "belle" is \bɛl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "belle" come from?
"belle" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "belle", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list