bleu

\blø\

/\blø\/ adj

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

The verdict

“bleu” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,470) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,470
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - De la couleur du ciel en plein jour quand il est dégagé. #0000FF

Corpus desk

Index FR-bleu · bleu · French

bleu · rank #1,470 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,470
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH beauté

Nearest frequency peer: beauté (-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 “bleu”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “bleu” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

bleu vs bu
50% similar
bleu vs bye
50% similar
bleu vs blu
75% similar

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

Key facts for bleu
PropertyValue
Headwordbleu
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\blø\
Letters4
Frequency rank#1,470
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “bleu” se place dans la fréquence du français

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « beauté » (#1,469), « buts » (#1,471), « attends » (#1,468). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for bleu is neighbouring look-alikes ("bu", "bye", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced \blø\. Frequency #1,470 among 4,251 “B” headwords. 9 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for bleu, with forms such as "bbleu", "belu", and "blleu". 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, "bu", "bye", "blu", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is bleu, spelled B-L-E-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    De la couleur du ciel en plein jour quand il est dégagé. #0000FF
  2. 2
    D’une couleur appartenant au champ chromatique du bleu, c’est-à-dire légèrement différente de la couleur originelle mais liée à celle-ci. #DFF2FF #77B5FE #2BFAFA #3A8EBA #0000FF #17657D #686F8C
  3. 3
    De la couleur que certains épanchements de sang ou certaines contusions font prendre à la peau.
  4. 4
    D’une couleur de robe de chien gris clair évoquant le bleu.
  5. 5
    Très peu cuit, en parlant d’une viande grillée.
  6. 6
    Vivement surpris de quelque chose.
  7. 7
    Complètement ivre.
  8. 8
    Passionnément amoureux de quelqu’un.
  9. 9
    En chromodynamique quantique, symbolise une des charges de couleur des quarks, ou une des valeurs de la composante « couleur » des combinaisons « couleur-anticouleur » des gluons.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. […] sur toute l’Ardenne, le temps s’était levé. Le ciel était bleu éblouissant, la neige étincelait au soleil.
  2. 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

azur

Antonyms

antibleu

This word in other languages

blue(English)azul(Español)blau(Deutsch)azul(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbleu
  • belu
  • blleu
  • lbeu

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

bbleu1belu2blleu1lbeu2
Edit distance from "bleu"

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 "bleu"?
"bleu" is spelled B-L-E-U. The IPA pronunciation is \blø\.
What does "bleu" mean?
As an adjective, "bleu" means: De la couleur du ciel en plein jour quand il est dégagé. #0000FF
What words are commonly confused with "bleu"?
"bleu" is commonly confused with "bu", "bye", "blu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bleu"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bleu" is \blø\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bleu" come from?
"bleu" 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 "bleu", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

buts#1,471aimé#1,466pont#1,452mets#1,444

What to do next

You've looked up "bleu". Here's where to go from here.

  • "bleu" 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 #1,470 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list