bison

\bi.zɔ̃\

/\bi.zɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“bison” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #24,129. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#24,129
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Grand bovidé (du genre Bison) existant en Amérique (Bison bison) et en Europe (Bison bonasus).

Corpus desk

Index FR-bison · bison · French

bison · rank #24,129 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #24,129
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH Billancourt

Nearest frequency peer: Billancourt (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « bison »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « bison » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

bison vs bon
60% similar
bison vs boon
60% similar
bison vs bron
60% similar

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

Key facts for bison
PropertyValue
Headwordbison
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bi.zɔ̃\
Letters5
Frequency rank#24,129
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « bison »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.bisonse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Billancourt » (#24,128), « bolt » (#24,130), « bilinguisme » (#24,127). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « bison » est au #24,129. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around bison (IPA \bi.zɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #24,129 among 4,251 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for bison, with forms such as "bbison", "biosn", and "bisno". 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, "bon", "boon", "bron", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is bison, spelled B-I-S-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Grand bovidé (du genre Bison) existant en Amérique (Bison bison) et en Europe (Bison bonasus).
  2. 2
    Meuble représentant l’animal du même nom dans les armoiries. Il est parfois assimilé au buffle. On le retrouve surtout dans les armoiries canadiennes. À rapprocher de bœuf, buffle, taureau et vache.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Quelquefois un bison chargé d’années, fendant les flots à la nage, se vient coucher parmi de hautes herbes, dans une île du Meschacebé.
  2. Un second trappeur était accroupi devant la hutte, occupé à surveiller la cuisson de la bosse de bison que l’Élan-Noir avait annoncée à ses convives.

This word in other languages

bison(English)bisonte(Español)Bison(Deutsch)bisão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbison
  • biosn
  • bisno
  • bisonn
  • bsion
  • ibson

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

bbison1biosn2bisno2bisonn1bsion2ibson2
Edit distance from "bison"

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 "bison"?
"bison" is spelled B-I-S-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \bi.zɔ̃\.
What does "bison" mean?
As a noun, "bison" means: Grand bovidé (du genre Bison) existant en Amérique (Bison bison) et en Europe (Bison bonasus).
What words are commonly confused with "bison"?
"bison" is commonly confused with "bon", "boon", "bron". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bison"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bison" is \bi.zɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bison" come from?
"bison" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "bison", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

CARDS#24,138cedex#24,139coche#24,154crush#24,169

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

Annette6 variantsWinnie6 variantsdédie6 variantsGent6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list