Cancale

\kɑ̃.kal\

/\kɑ̃.kal\/ name

The verdict

“Cancale” is uncommon French (frequency #61,370 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,370
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Commune française, située dans le département d’Ille-et-Vilaine.

Corpus desk

Index FR-cancale · Cancale · French

Cancale · rank #61,370 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #61,370
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH cambrousse

Nearest frequency peer: cambrousse (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « Cancale »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « Cancale » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Cancale
PropertyValue
HeadwordCancale
LanguageFrench
Part of speechProper noun
IPA\kɑ̃.kal\
Letters7
Frequency rank#61,370
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « Cancale » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).Cancaletombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « cambrousse » (#61,369), « canneberge » (#61,371), « calvinisme » (#61,368). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « Cancale » est au #61,370. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Cancale is uncommon French at frequency #61,370 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed \kɑ̃.kal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Commune française, située dans le département d’Ille-et-Vilaine.".

No misspelling variants are generated for Cancale in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is Cancale, spelled C-A-N-C-A-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Commune française, située dans le département d’Ille-et-Vilaine.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Parmi les propriétaires d’îles en Bretagne, on peut ainsi citer les familles Bolloré et Mulliez ou Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, qui a racheté l’île des Rimains, située au large de Cancale, en 2012.

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 "Cancale"?
"Cancale" is spelled C-A-N-C-A-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \kɑ̃.kal\.
What does "Cancale" mean?
As a proper noun, "Cancale" means: Commune française, située dans le département d’Ille-et-Vilaine.
How do you pronounce "Cancale"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Cancale" is \kɑ̃.kal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Cancale" come from?
"Cancale" 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 "Cancale", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list