bulle
\byl\
The verdict
“bulle” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #5,529 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,529
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Petite quantité d’air qui s’élève à la surface des liquides, en particulier lors de l’ébullition ou de la fermentation.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bulle |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \byl\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #5,529 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bulle” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for bulle is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \byl\. Corpus data places it at rank #5,529 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 17 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for bulle, with forms such as "bbulle", "blule", and "bulel". 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, "bute", "bure", "buse", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is bulle, spelled B-U-L-L-E.
Definition
- 1Petite quantité d’air qui s’élève à la surface des liquides, en particulier lors de l’ébullition ou de la fermentation.
- 2Petite quantité d’air qui reste enfermée dans une matière jetée en fonte ou coulée.
- 3Bulle de savon.
- 4Phylactère dans la bande dessinée.
- 5Plus mauvaise note, par référence à la forme du chiffre zéro.
- 6Petite boule de métal que les patriciens romains portaient au cou jusqu’à dix-sept ans (sens d’origine).
- 7Grosse vésicule qui s’élève à la surface de la peau.
- 8Sceau de plomb qui marque certaines lettres du pape.
- 9Édit papal ; lettres papales munies de ce sceau.
- 10Champagne, voire crémant.
- 11Spéculation outrancière. Par exemple bulle spéculative, Bulle financière, bulle monétaire, bulle immobilière
- 12Lieu isolé protégeant une ou plusieurs personnes de microbes ou de maladies.
- 13Monde autonome dans lequel l’on n’est plus en contact avec le monde réel, comme séparé de la réalité.
- 14Pendant la pandémie de 2020-2021, groupe de personnes autorisées à rester en contact les unes avec les autres, chaque groupe étant théoriquement isolé des autres. → voir bulle de contact
- 15Moment qui se détache de la réalité, qui paraît irréel.
- 16Grosse tête de clou décorative utilisé pour orner les portes monumentales.
- 17Petit pare-brise de moto.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbulle,blule,bulel,ublle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bulle - 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.
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 "bulle"?
What does "bulle" mean?
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Using “bulle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is B-U-L-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \byl\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bute” - see the side-by-side comparison. bulle vs bute
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.