couleuvre
\ku.lœvʁ\
The verdict
“couleuvre” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #45,528 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #45,528
- frequency rank, French
- 9
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Serpent de taille moyenne ou grande, qui a un petit nombre de grandes écailles entre les yeux et la bouche, à pupille circulaire, à longue queue, et qui se nourrit de petits rongeurs.
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 | couleuvre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ku.lœvʁ\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #45,528 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “couleuvre” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for couleuvre is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ku.lœvʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #45,528 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for couleuvre, with forms such as "ccouleuvre", "colueuvre", and "coueluvre". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "couleuvres", "couleur", "couleurs", 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 its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is couleuvre, spelled C-O-U-L-E-U-V-R-E.
Definition
- 1Serpent de taille moyenne ou grande, qui a un petit nombre de grandes écailles entre les yeux et la bouche, à pupille circulaire, à longue queue, et qui se nourrit de petits rongeurs.
- 2Meuble représentant l’animal du même nom dans les armoiries. Il est généralement représenté en pal et ondoyant. Il ne faut pas la confondre avec la guivre. À rapprocher de bisse et serpent.
- 3Humiliation, acte qu’on est forcé d’accepter contre son gré.
- 4Grosse fissure résultant d'un défaut de construction. ^([1])
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccouleuvre,colueuvre,coueluvre,couleurve,couleuver,couleuvrre,couleuvvre,coulevure,coulleuvre,couluevre,cuoleuvre,oculeuvre
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of couleuvre - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "couleuvre"?
What does "couleuvre" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "couleuvre"?
How do you pronounce "couleuvre"?
What language does "couleuvre" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “couleuvre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-O-U-L-E-U-V-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ku.lœvʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “couleuvres” - see the side-by-side comparison. couleuvre vs couleuvres
- 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.