château

/\ʃɑ.to\/ noun

Letters

7 characters

Frequency Rank

#1,586

in French word usage

Misspellings

10

tracked variants

Confusables

14

similar word pairs

château is aFrenchnoun. It means: Demeure féodale défendue par des fossés et de gros murs flanqués de tours ou de bastions. Pronounced \ʃɑ.to\. It ranks #1,586 in French word frequency. Often confused with coteau and Châtel.

Key facts for château
PropertyValue
Headwordchâteau
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʃɑ.to\
Letters7
Frequency rank#1,586
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs14
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of château in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for château is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʃɑ.to\. Corpus data places it at rank #1,586 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for château, with forms such as "cchâteau", "chateau", and "chhâteau". 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 14 confusable-pair relationships, "coteau", "Châtel", "couteau", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is château, spelled C-H-Â-T-E-A-U, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Demeure féodale défendue par des fossés et de gros murs flanqués de tours ou de bastions.
  2. 2
    Résidence, habitation seigneuriale ou royale.
  3. 3
    Toute maison de plaisance vaste et magnifique.
  4. 4
    Maison de relativement grande dimension, généralement la plus grande du village.
  5. 5
    Grand cru de Bordeaux (dont le nom commence souvent par « château... »).
  6. 6
    Exploitation viticole qui élabore son propre vin, en particulier dans le Bordelais.
  7. 7
    (Anciennement) Construction surélevée édifiée à la poupe ou à la proue d'un navire. (Aujourd'hui) Superstructure construite dans la partie centrale d'un navire (Note: les navires affectés au transport des hydrocarbures tels que les pétroliers ou les méthaniers ont leur château édifié à l'arrière).
  8. 8
    Meuble représentant la bâtisse du même nom dans les armoiries. Il est généralement représenté sous la forme de deux tours liées par un mur. Si le nombre de tours change de l’ordinaire, on doit le blasonner. Quand il s’agit d'une représentation d'un château spécifique, cela doit être mentionné dans le blasonnement. Le château peut également être muni de donjon, porte, herse, toit, échauguettes, girouettes, bannières, etc. À rapprocher de château-fort.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: cchâteau,chateau,chhâteau,chtâeau,châetau,châtaeu,châteua,châtteau,câhteau,hcâteau

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for château

Misspelling Variants of "château"

cchâteau8chateau7chhâteau8chtâeau7châetau7châtaeu7châteua7châtteau8
Misspelling Variants of "château"

Frequency rank: #1,586 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "château"?
"château" is spelled C-H-Â-T-E-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃɑ.to\.
What does "château" mean?
As a noun, "château" means: Demeure féodale défendue par des fossés et de gros murs flanqués de tours ou de bastions.
What words are commonly confused with "château"?
"château" is commonly confused with "coteau", "Châtel", "couteau". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "château"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "château" is \ʃɑ.to\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "château" come from?
"château" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

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.