boussole

\bu.sɔl\

/\bu.sɔl\/ noun

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

The verdict

“boussole” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #19,221. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#19,221
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Cadran au centre duquel est fixée une aiguille qui tourne librement sur son pivot et dont la pointe aimantée se dirige vers le nord.

Corpus desk

Index FR-boussole · boussole · French

boussole · rank #19,221 · 9 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #19,221
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH Brazzaville

Nearest frequency peer: Brazzaville (+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 « boussole »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « boussole » 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).

boussole vs bouscule
75% similar

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

Key facts for boussole
PropertyValue
Headwordboussole
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bu.sɔl\
Letters8
Frequency rank#19,221
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « boussole »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.boussolese 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 « Brazzaville » (#19,222), « bishop » (#19,219), « breaking » (#19,223). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « boussole » est au #19,221. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around boussole (IPA \bu.sɔl\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #19,221 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 boussole, with forms such as "bboussole", "bosusole", and "bousole". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "bouscule", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is boussole, spelled B-O-U-S-S-O-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Cadran au centre duquel est fixée une aiguille qui tourne librement sur son pivot et dont la pointe aimantée se dirige vers le nord.
  2. 2
    Guide, conducteur.
  3. 3
    Meuble représentant l’instrument d'orientation du même nom dans les armoiries. L’aiguille est généralement de deux couleurs qui doivent être blasonnées. La position de l’aiguille peut varier. On précise alors dans le blasonnement la direction indiquée par la boussole. À rapprocher de rose des vents.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La boussole a été apportée par les Arabes dont les embarcations commerciales allaient, comme on sait, rencontrer les jonques marchandes des Chinois dans les ports de l'Inde.
  2. Le terrain ardoisier montre une succession de schistes et de quartzites des nuances les plus diverses, dont l’inclinaison générale est vers le sud de la boussole.

Synonyms

compas

This word in other languages

compass(English)brújula(Español)Kompass(Deutsch)bússola(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bboussole
  • bosusole
  • bousole
  • bousosle
  • boussloe
  • boussoel
  • boussolle
  • buossole
  • obussole

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

bboussole1bosusole2bousole1bousosle2boussloe2boussoel2boussolle1buossole2
Edit distance from "boussole"

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 "boussole"?
"boussole" is spelled B-O-U-S-S-O-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \bu.sɔl\.
What does "boussole" mean?
As a noun, "boussole" means: Cadran au centre duquel est fixée une aiguille qui tourne librement sur son pivot et dont la pointe aimantée se dirige vers le nord.
What words are commonly confused with "boussole"?
"boussole" is commonly confused with "bouscule". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "boussole"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "boussole" is \bu.sɔl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "boussole" come from?
"boussole" 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 "boussole", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

breaking#19,223bavarois#19,215aurélien#19,212caprices#19,230

Similar misspelling depth

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

bishop9 variantsAstrid9 variantsaffreuse9 variantscueillir9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list