bluff

/\blœf\/ noun

Letters

5 characters

Frequency Rank

#18,414

in French word usage

Misspellings

6

tracked variants

Confusables

9

similar word pairs

bluff is aFrenchnoun. It means: Propos ou acte consistant à faire croire qu’on a un jeu différent de celui qu’on a en vérité. Pronounced \blœf\. Often confused with Blum and blunt.

Key facts for bluff
PropertyValue
Headwordbluff
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\blœf\
Letters5
Frequency rank#18,414
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs9
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of bluff in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for bluff is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \blœf\. Corpus data places it at rank #18,414 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for bluff, with forms such as "bbluff", "blfuf", and "blluff". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "Blum", "blunt", "bouffe", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is bluff, spelled B-L-U-F-F, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Propos ou acte consistant à faire croire qu’on a un jeu différent de celui qu’on a en vérité.
  2. 2
    Propos ou actes accompagnés d’une grande confiance en soi réelle ou simulée afin d’intimider, voire de faire renoncer un adversaire en lui faisant croire qu’il est dans une position d’infériorité.
  3. 3
    Tromperie dans le but de profiter de la naïveté, de la crédulité ou de l’ignorance d’autrui.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: bbluff,blfuf,blluff,bluf,bulff,lbuff

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for bluff

Misspelling Variants of "bluff"

bbluff6blfuf5blluff6bluf4bulff5lbuff5
Misspelling Variants of "bluff"

Frequency rank: #18,414 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bluff"?
"bluff" is spelled B-L-U-F-F. The IPA pronunciation is \blœf\.
What does "bluff" mean?
As a noun, "bluff" means: Propos ou acte consistant à faire croire qu’on a un jeu différent de celui qu’on a en vérité.
What words are commonly confused with "bluff"?
"bluff" is commonly confused with "Blum", "blunt", "bouffe". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bluff"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bluff" is \blœf\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bluff" come from?
"bluff" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter B in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.