calvaire

\kal.vɛʁ\

/\kal.vɛʁ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“calvaire” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #11,007. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#11,007
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mont de Jérusalem, où Jésus-Christ fut crucifié.

Corpus desk

Index FR-calvaire · calvaire · French

calvaire · rank #11,007 · 11 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,007
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH cabinets

Nearest frequency peer: cabinets (-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 « calvaire »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « calvaire » 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).

calvaire vs claire
75% similar
calvaire vs Calabre
63% similar
calvaire vs calcaire
88% similar

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

Key facts for calvaire
PropertyValue
Headwordcalvaire
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kal.vɛʁ\
Letters8
Frequency rank#11,007
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « calvaire »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).calvairese 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 « cabinets » (#11,006), « capsule » (#11,008), « capter » (#11,009). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « calvaire » est au #11,007. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around calvaire (IPA \kal.vɛʁ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #11,007 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for calvaire, with forms such as "aclvaire", "calavire", and "callvaire". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "claire", "Calabre", "calcaire", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is calvaire, spelled C-A-L-V-A-I-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mont de Jérusalem, où Jésus-Christ fut crucifié.
  2. 2
    Monument reproduisant la crucifixion.
  3. 3
    Épreuve pénible, très grande douleur ou, au Québec, colère.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Et lorsqu’il prononçait cette phrase désolée : « Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, pourquoi mon âme est-elle triste et pourquoi me troublez-vous ? » le prêtre était bien la figure de Jésus souffrant sur le Calvaire.
  2. En face se verdit à la pluie un de ces bons vieux calvaires bretons, ciselés, sculptés, portant fleurons et personnages.

Synonyms

Golgotha

This word in other languages

Calvary(English)Calvario(Español)Bildstock(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • aclvaire
  • calavire
  • callvaire
  • calvaier
  • calvairre
  • calvarie
  • calviare
  • calvvaire
  • cavlaire
  • ccalvaire
  • clavaire

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of calvaire - 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.

aclvaire2calavire2callvaire1calvaier2calvairre1calvarie2calviare2calvvaire1
Edit distance from "calvaire"

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 "calvaire"?
"calvaire" is spelled C-A-L-V-A-I-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \kal.vɛʁ\.
What does "calvaire" mean?
As a noun, "calvaire" means: Mont de Jérusalem, où Jésus-Christ fut crucifié.
What words are commonly confused with "calvaire"?
"calvaire" is commonly confused with "claire", "Calabre", "calcaire". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "calvaire"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "calvaire" is \kal.vɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "calvaire" come from?
"calvaire" 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 "calvaire", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

cabinets#11,006chargeur#11,012barbares#10,999autopsie#10,997

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

collision11 variantscourtois11 variantsdétroit11 variantsfantasy11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list