caporal

\ka.pɔ.ʁal\

/\ka.pɔ.ʁal\/ noun

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

The verdict

“caporal” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #15,321. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#15,321
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Grade le moins élevé dans l’infanterie.

Corpus desk

Index FR-caporal · caporal · French

caporal · rank #15,321 · 10 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #15,321
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH bugs

Nearest frequency peer: bugs (-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 « caporal »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « caporal » 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).

caporal vs coral
71% similar
caporal vs choral
71% similar
caporal vs capital
71% similar

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

Key facts for caporal
PropertyValue
Headwordcaporal
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ka.pɔ.ʁal\
Letters7
Frequency rank#15,321
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « caporal »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).caporalse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « bugs » (#15,320), « carnage » (#15,322), « brutalité » (#15,319). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « caporal » est au #15,321. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around caporal (IPA \ka.pɔ.ʁal\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,321 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for caporal, with forms such as "acporal", "caopral", and "capoarl". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "coral", "choral", "capital", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

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 caporal, spelled C-A-P-O-R-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Grade le moins élevé dans l’infanterie.
  2. 2
    Grade donné dans l’Armée de terre et l’Armée de l’air françaises, situé entre son supérieur hiérarchique, le caporal-chef, et son subordonné, le soldat de première classe ou l’aviateur de première classe, correspondant au quartier-maître de deuxième classe dans la Marine nationale française. Le code OTAN : OR-3.
  3. 3
    Grade des Forces armées canadiennes.
  4. 4
    Tabac à fumer d’une espèce supérieure au tabac de troupe et devenu en France d’un usage général.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Tu nous rends un service impayable. Mais quand s’acquittera le compte général, Je ne t’oublîrai ^([sic]) point ; tu seras caporal !
  2. Passer caporal.

Synonyms

cabot

This word in other languages

corporal(English)Hauptgefreiter(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acporal
  • caopral
  • capoarl
  • caporall
  • caporla
  • caporral
  • capporal
  • caproal
  • ccaporal
  • cpaoral

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

acporal2caopral2capoarl2caporall1caporla2caporral1capporal1caproal2
Edit distance from "caporal"

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 "caporal"?
"caporal" is spelled C-A-P-O-R-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \ka.pɔ.ʁal\.
What does "caporal" mean?
As a noun, "caporal" means: Grade le moins élevé dans l’infanterie.
What words are commonly confused with "caporal"?
"caporal" is commonly confused with "coral", "choral", "capital". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "caporal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "caporal" is \ka.pɔ.ʁal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "caporal" come from?
"caporal" 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 "caporal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

carnage#15,322branler#15,316chorale#15,328Beatles#15,311

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

Biarritz10 variantsclowns10 variantsaggraver10 variantsdiables10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list