caillou

/\ka.ju\/ noun

Letters

7 characters

Frequency Rank

#16,314

in French word usage

Misspellings

7

tracked variants

Confusables

7

similar word pairs

caillou is aFrenchnoun. It means: Pierre de petite (ou moyenne) dimension. Pronounced \ka.ju\. Often confused with cailloux and carillon.

Key facts for caillou
PropertyValue
Headwordcaillou
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ka.ju\
Letters7
Frequency rank#16,314
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for caillou is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ka.ju\. Corpus data places it at rank #16,314 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for caillou, with forms such as "acillou", "cailluo", and "cailolu". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "cailloux", "carillon", "Chaillot", 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 caillou, spelled C-A-I-L-L-O-U, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pierre de petite (ou moyenne) dimension.
  2. 2
    Pierre précieuse, cristal de roche, diamant.
  3. 3
    Récif, rocher.
  4. 4
    Tête, crâne.
  5. 5
    Glaçon.
  6. 6
    Personne têtue, tête dure.
  7. 7
    Morceau de sucre.
  8. 8
    Huître.
  9. 9
    Objectif, en référence à la matière minérale du verre ou la manière dont les lentilles sont enchâssées dans le fût en métal comme une pierre précieuse l'est sur une bague.
  10. 10
    Nouvelle-Calédonie.
  11. 11
    Île peu peuplée, avec peu d’activité, présentant peu d’intérêt.
  12. 12
    Corps céleste (planète, lune, astéroïde) d’apparence rocheuse et inhospitalière.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: acillou,cailluo,cailolu,cailou,calilou,ccaillou,ciallou

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for caillou

Misspelling Variants of "caillou"

acillou7cailluo7cailolu7cailou6calilou7ccaillou8ciallou7
Misspelling Variants of "caillou"

Frequency rank: #16,314 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "caillou"?
"caillou" is spelled C-A-I-L-L-O-U. The IPA pronunciation is \ka.ju\.
What does "caillou" mean?
As a noun, "caillou" means: Pierre de petite (ou moyenne) dimension.
What words are commonly confused with "caillou"?
"caillou" is commonly confused with "cailloux", "carillon", "Chaillot". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "caillou"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "caillou" is \ka.ju\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "caillou" come from?
"caillou" 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 C in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

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