bonne

\bɔn\

/\bɔn\/ noun

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

The verdict

“bonne” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #167) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#167
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Servante dans une maison bourgeoise, dans un hôtel, etc., fille chargée de soigner un enfant.

Corpus desk

Index FR-bonne · bonne · French

bonne · rank #167 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #167
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH 5

Nearest frequency peer: 5 (-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.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « bonne »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « bonne » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

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).

bonne vs bons
60% similar
bonne vs boxe
60% similar
bonne vs boue
60% similar

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

Key facts for bonne
PropertyValue
Headwordbonne
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bɔn\
Letters5
Frequency rank#167
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « bonne »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.bonnese 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 « 5 » (#166), « fin » (#168), « première » (#165). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « bonne » est au #167. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for bonne is neighbouring look-alikes ("bons", "boxe", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \bɔn\. Frequency #167 among 4,251 “B” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for bonne, with forms such as "bbonne", "bnone", and "bonen". 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, "bons", "boxe", "boue", 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, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is bonne, spelled B-O-N-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Servante dans une maison bourgeoise, dans un hôtel, etc., fille chargée de soigner un enfant.
  2. 2
    Nom de différents paiements.
  3. 3
    Dans le système scolaire, point de notation d'une évaluation scolaire, variant en Suisse de 1 à 6. De façon similaire, la demi-bonne correspond à un demi-point sur cette même note.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Dans les milieux bourgeois, l’enfant vit jusqu’à sept ans avec ses bonnes, jusqu’à seize avec ses pions, et ensuite, avec… qui vous savez.
  2. C’est que vert encore à l’âge de soixante-dix ans, le père Jourgeot s’était longuement tâté le pouls avant de se décider à régulariser avec sa bonne la situation de servante-maîtresse qu’elle occupait dans la maison depuis quatre ou cinq ans déjà.

Synonyms

bonne à tout fairebonnichedomestiquefemme de ménage

This word in other languages

maid(English)muchacha(Español)Dienstmädchen(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbonne
  • bnone
  • bonen
  • obnne

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

bbonne1bnone2bonen2obnne2
Edit distance from "bonne"

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 "bonne"?
"bonne" is spelled B-O-N-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \bɔn\.
What does "bonne" mean?
As a noun, "bonne" means: Servante dans une maison bourgeoise, dans un hôtel, etc., fille chargée de soigner un enfant.
What words are commonly confused with "bonne"?
"bonne" is commonly confused with "bons", "boxe", "boue". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bonne"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bonne" is \bɔn\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bonne" come from?
"bonne" 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 "bonne", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

mieux#169petit#171année#173chose#158

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list