bulbe

\bylb\

/\bylb\/ noun

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

The verdict

“bulbe” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #28,865. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#28,865
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Organe végétal souterrain formé par un bourgeon entouré de feuilles charnues, permettant à la plante de reformer chaque année ses parties aériennes.

Corpus desk

Index FR-bulbe · bulbe · French

bulbe · rank #28,865 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #28,865
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH buis

Nearest frequency peer: buis (-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 « bulbe »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « bulbe » 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).

bulbe vs bull
60% similar
bulbe vs bute
60% similar
bulbe vs bure
60% similar

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

Key facts for bulbe
PropertyValue
Headwordbulbe
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bylb\
Letters5
Frequency rank#28,865
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « bulbe »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.bulbese 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 « buis » (#28,864), « bureaucratique » (#28,866), « brins » (#28,863). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « bulbe » est au #28,865. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around bulbe (IPA \bylb\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #28,865 among 4,251 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for bulbe, with forms such as "bbulbe", "blube", and "buble". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bull", "bute", "bure", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is bulbe, spelled B-U-L-B-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Organe végétal souterrain formé par un bourgeon entouré de feuilles charnues, permettant à la plante de reformer chaque année ses parties aériennes.
  2. 2
    Certaines parties renflées, globuleuses.
  3. 3
    Toiture, dôme à renflement bulbeux typique de l'architecture musulmane ou baroque.
  4. 4
    Lest de forme bombée placé sous la quille d’un voilier.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Sous le couvert épais de la futaie, à luminosité réduite, la fructification devient difficile ; aussi, […], la multiplication végétative par stolons, rhizomes ou bulbes est-elle souvent la règle pour beaucoup d'espèces.
  2. Depuis le mois de mai, les bulbiculteurs néerlandais participent à un sondage qui a pour objectif de mettre à la disposition de l'ensemble de la profession la connaissance qu'ils ont de la sensibilité aux maladies des cultivars de bulbes de tulipes, narcisses, glaïeuls, crocus, hyacinthes, iris et lis.

Synonyms

oignonognon

This word in other languages

bulb(English)bulbo(Español)Zwiebel(Deutsch)bolbo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbulbe
  • blube
  • buble
  • bulbbe
  • buleb
  • bullbe
  • ublbe

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bulbe - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

bbulbe1blube2buble2bulbbe1buleb2bullbe1ublbe2
Edit distance from "bulbe"

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 "bulbe"?
"bulbe" is spelled B-U-L-B-E. The IPA pronunciation is \bylb\.
What does "bulbe" mean?
As a noun, "bulbe" means: Organe végétal souterrain formé par un bourgeon entouré de feuilles charnues, permettant à la plante de reformer chaque année ses parties aériennes.
What words are commonly confused with "bulbe"?
"bulbe" is commonly confused with "bull", "bute", "bure". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bulbe"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bulbe" is \bylb\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bulbe" come from?
"bulbe" 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 "bulbe", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

brins#28,863bigot#28,853baden#28,847amena#28,825

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

ciseau7 variantsYukon7 variantsWalid7 variantsvador7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list