boule

/\bul\/ noun

By · Reviewed against Wiktionary & Hunspell sources ·

Letters

5 characters

Frequency Rank

#4,648

in French word usage

Misspellings

6

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

boule is aFrenchnoun. It means: Corps rond en tous sens, généralement plein. — Note d’usage : Se dit surtout des objets dont les dimensions leur permettent d’être tenus en main. Pronounced \bul\. It ranks #4,648 in French word frequency. Often confused with bue and bout.

Key facts for boule
PropertyValue
Headwordboule
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bul\
Letters5
Frequency rank#4,648
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for boule is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \bul\. Corpus data places it at rank #4,648 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 24 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 boule, with forms such as "bboule", "bolue", and "bouel". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bue", "bout", "boxe", 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 boule, spelled B-O-U-L-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Corps rond en tous sens, généralement plein. — Note d’usage : Se dit surtout des objets dont les dimensions leur permettent d’être tenus en main.
  2. 2
    Objet sphérique servant à jouer.
  3. 3
    Noms de plusieurs sports comme la pétanque ou la boule lyonnaise, dont le but consiste à envoyer des boules le plus près possible d’un endroit bien déterminé.
  4. 4
    Jeu de casino.
  5. 5
    Pain de forme ronde.
  6. 6
    Tête.
  7. 7
    Testicule.
  8. 8
    Intérieur d’une sphère.
  9. 9
    Objet d’équilibre de la pratique circassienne.
  10. 10
    Bonbon, friandise.
  11. 11
    Meuble en forme de disque, normalement représenté ombré, pour la distinguer du besant ou du tourteau.
  12. 12
    Ornement de forme sphérique ou ovoïde.
  13. 13
    La Terre.
  14. 14
    Cylindre de grès ou de métal dans lequel on mettait de l’eau chaude pour se réchauffer les pieds.
  15. 15
    Enclume du chaudronnier.
  16. 16
    Masse de fer dont l’orfèvre se sert pour planer.
  17. 17
    Outil de l’opticien pour façonner les verres concaves.
  18. 18
    Rouleau dont le carrier se sert pour transporter de grosses pierres.
  19. 19
    Boules qui, suivant leur couleur blanche ou noire, étaient favorables ou défavorables dans certains jeux, dans certains examens ou lors de certaines élections. Le terme est encore d’usage dans le contexte de la procédure d’admission de candidats en Franc-Maçonnerie.
  20. 20
    En guise de compliment.
  21. 21
    Sein d’une femme.
  22. 22
    Nom générique d’unité monétaire.
  23. 23
    Balle.
  24. 24
    Récipient sphérique contenant de l’eau chaude, destiné à réchauffer les pieds ; bouillote.

This word in other languages

English(English)Spanish(Español)Portuguese(Português)German(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: bboule,bolue,bouel,boulle,buole,obule

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for boule

Misspelling Variants of "boule"

bboule6bolue5bouel5boulle6buole5obule5
Misspelling Variants of "boule"

Frequency rank: #4,648 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "boule"?
"boule" is spelled B-O-U-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \bul\.
What does "boule" mean?
As a noun, "boule" means: Corps rond en tous sens, généralement plein. — Note d’usage : Se dit surtout des objets dont les dimensions leur permettent d’être tenus en main.
What words are commonly confused with "boule"?
"boule" is commonly confused with "bue", "bout", "boxe". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "boule"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "boule" is \bul\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "boule" come from?
"boule" 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:

All "B" wordsABCDEFGHIJKL

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Words: B

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Confusable Pairs

Commonly confused words

Spelling Guides

Tips & reference

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