bordel

\bɔʁ.dɛl\

/\bɔʁ.dɛl\/ noun

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

The verdict

“bordel” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,852. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,852
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Établissement où se pratique la prostitution.

Corpus desk

Index FR-bordel · bordel · French

bordel · rank #1,852 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,852
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH biens

Nearest frequency peer: biens (-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 « bordel »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « bordel » 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).

bordel vs Brel
50% similar
bordel vs bore
67% similar
bordel vs bords
67% similar

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

Key facts for bordel
PropertyValue
Headwordbordel
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bɔʁ.dɛl\
Letters6
Frequency rank#1,852
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « bordel »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.bordelse 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 « biens » (#1,851), « cadeau » (#1,853), « Bernard » (#1,850). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « bordel » est au #1,852. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around bordel (IPA \bɔʁ.dɛl\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,852 among 4,251 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for bordel, with forms such as "bbordel", "bodrel", and "borddel". 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, "Brel", "bore", "bords", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is bordel, spelled B-O-R-D-E-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Établissement où se pratique la prostitution.
  2. 2
    Situation chaotique, grand désordre.
  3. 3
    Terme générique pour désigner un ensemble d’objets, souvent agaçant.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Monsieur l’curé a une fontaine Au bord d’elle, il va s’asseoir. Au bord d’el– papa Au bord d’el– maman Au bord d’elle il va s’asseoir.
  2. Il paroît qu’alors chaque bordel étoit régi immédiatement par une hôtesse, (Maquerelle Abbesse,) ou par un débauché affilié en titre, avec une fille de joie, qu’on appeloit hourier du mot allemand hour, qui signifie débauché ; hourière femme débauchée […]

Synonyms

bazarboxonbric-à-braccailloncapharnaümcirquefoutoirmaison de passepagailletohu-bohu

This word in other languages

bordello(English)burdel(Español)Bordell(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbordel
  • bodrel
  • borddel
  • bordell
  • bordle
  • boredl
  • borrdel
  • brodel
  • obrdel

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bordel - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

bbordel1bodrel2borddel1bordell1bordle2boredl2borrdel1brodel2
Edit distance from "bordel"

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 "bordel"?
"bordel" is spelled B-O-R-D-E-L. The IPA pronunciation is \bɔʁ.dɛl\.
What does "bordel" mean?
As a noun, "bordel" means: Établissement où se pratique la prostitution.
What words are commonly confused with "bordel"?
"bordel" is commonly confused with "Brel", "bore", "bords". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bordel"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bordel" is \bɔʁ.dɛl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bordel" come from?
"bordel" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bordel", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cadeau#1,853colère#1,857agents#1,846dormir#1,861

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

hasard9 variantsmétier9 variantsphrase9 variantsimpact9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list