canal
\ka.nal\
The verdict
“canal” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #1,944 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,944
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Conduit par où l’eau passe.
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 | canal |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ka.nal\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,944 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “canal” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for canal is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ka.nal\. Corpus data places it at rank #1,944 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for canal, with forms such as "acnal", "caanl", and "canall". 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, "Carl", "casa", "CNIL", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is canal, spelled C-A-N-A-L.
Definition
- 1Conduit par où l’eau passe.
- 2Voies naturelles par lesquelles les eaux, les vapeurs, les gaz, etc., circulent dans le sein de la terre, y pénètrent ou s’en échappent.
- 3Vaisseau. — Note d’usage : il se dit plus particulièrement de certaines parties dont les unes servent de couloirs à des substances liquides ou molles et dont d’autres renferment des organes particuliers.
- 4Lit ou cours d’une rivière.
- 5Tranchée creusée de main d’homme pour établir des communications par eau d’un lieu à un autre et faciliter le transport des denrées et des marchandises.
- 6Certaines pièces d’eau étroites et longues qui servent d’ornement dans les jardins.
- 7Certains lieux où la mer se resserre entre deux rivages.
- 8Voie, moyen, entremise dont on se sert pour quelque chose.
- 9Fréquence ou bande de fréquence utilisée pour une transmission.
- 10Ornement consistant en une moulure creuse ou une courte cannelure, obtenue par évidement des larmiers, des volutes, et en général de surfaces obtenues en creusant des corps de moulures.
- 11Zone conductrice d’un transistor à effet de champ, située entre la source et le drain, dans laquelle circule le courant électrique contrôlé par la grille.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: acnal,caanl,canall,canla,cannal,ccanal,cnaal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of canal - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "canal"?
What does "canal" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "canal"?
How do you pronounce "canal"?
What language does "canal" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “canal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-A-N-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ka.nal\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Carl” - see the side-by-side comparison. canal vs Carl
- 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.