carambolage
\ka.ʁɑ̃.bɔ.laʒ\
The verdict
“carambolage” is uncommon French (frequency #59,142 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #59,142
- frequency rank, French
- 8,609
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Action de caramboler.
Corpus desk
Index FR-carambolage · carambolage · French
carambolage · rank #59,142 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #59,142
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 8,609
- PHOTO-FINISH carambar
Nearest frequency peer: carambar (-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 « carambolage »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- Canteloup
Canteloup
40,863 corpus weight
- carambar
carambar
40,860 corpus weight
- carambolage
carambolage
40,859 corpus weight
- caricaturer
caricaturer
40,858 corpus weight
- carolingiens
carolingiens
40,857 corpus weight
- Carpates
Carpates
40,856 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « carambolage » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | carambolage |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ka.ʁɑ̃.bɔ.laʒ\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #59,142 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « carambolage » en français
Rare enough to double-check
carambolage is uncommon French at frequency #59,142 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ka.ʁɑ̃.bɔ.laʒ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for carambolage in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is carambolage, spelled C-A-R-A-M-B-O-L-A-G-E.
Definition
- 1Action de caramboler.
- 2Action de percuter.
- 3Accident en série dans lequel plusieurs véhicules se percutent l’un l’autre.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how carambolage appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Je conseillerais donc à ceux de mes lecteurs qui se proposeraient une ascension botanique au Ventoux, de ne pas se trouver à Bédoin un dimanche au soir. Ils éviteront le bruyant va-et-vient d’un café-auberge, les interminables conversations à haute voix, l’écho des carambolages de la salle de billard, le tintement des verres, la chansonnette après boire,…
Quant à l’action de queuter ou de billarder, ce n’est pas trop, comme il est d’usage en France, de tenir pour nul le carambolage qu’on a pu faire ainsi ; il serait même juste que le fauteur fût puni de la perte d’un point, car c’est une espèce de filouterie.
This word in other languages
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
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "carambolage", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).