blé

\ble\

/\ble\/ noun

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

The verdict

“blé” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #5,427) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#5,427
frequency rank, French
227,490
“B” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Terme générique qui désigne plusieurs céréales appartenant au genre Triticum. Ce sont des plantes annuelles de la famille des graminées ou Poacées, cultivées dans de très nombreux pays pour obtenir...

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

blé vs by
33% similar
blé vs bu
33% similar
blé vs Br
0% similar

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

Key facts for blé
PropertyValue
Headwordblé
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ble\
Letters3
Frequency rank#5,427
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “blé” 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). blé lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for blé is neighbouring look-alikes ("by", "bu", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \ble\. Frequency #5,427 among 227,490 “B” headwords. 5 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Zero misspellings are on record for blé in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "bu", "Br", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, 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 blé, spelled B-L-É.

Definition

  1. 1
    Terme générique qui désigne plusieurs céréales appartenant au genre Triticum. Ce sont des plantes annuelles de la famille des graminées ou Poacées, cultivées dans de très nombreux pays pour obtenir de la farine permettant de faire du pain.
  2. 2
    Couleur jaune chaud légèrement brillant. #E8D630
  3. 3
    Grain produit par ces plantes.
  4. 4
    Champ de blé.
  5. 5
    Argent, fric.

This word in other languages

wheat(English)trigo(Español)Weizen(Deutsch)trigo(Português)

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 "blé"?
"blé" is spelled B-L-É. The IPA pronunciation is \ble\.
What does "blé" mean?
As a noun, "blé" means: Terme générique qui désigne plusieurs céréales appartenant au genre Triticum. Ce sont des plantes annuelles de la famille des graminées ou Poacées, cultivées dans de très nombreux pays pour obtenir...
What words are commonly confused with "blé"?
"blé" is commonly confused with "by", "bu", "Br". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "blé"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "blé" is \ble\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "blé" come from?
"blé" 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 “blé”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is B-L-É - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ble\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “by” - see the side-by-side comparison. blé vs by
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words

Words at a similar French frequency

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