criminal
\ˈkɹɪm.ɪ.nəl\
The verdict
“criminal” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #43,868 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #43,868
- frequency rank, French
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Criminel, délinquant.
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 | criminal |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ˈkɹɪm.ɪ.nəl\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #43,868 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “criminal” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for criminal is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ˈkɹɪm.ɪ.nəl\. Corpus data places it at rank #43,868 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Criminel, délinquant.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for criminal, with forms such as "ccriminal", "cirminal", and "criimnal". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "criminel", "criminels", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is criminal, spelled C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L.
Definition
- 1Criminel, délinquant.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccriminal,cirminal,criimnal,crimianl,criminall,criminla,criminnal,crimminal,crimnial,crmiinal,crriminal,rciminal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of criminal - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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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Using “criminal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ˈkɹɪm.ɪ.nəl\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “criminel” - see the side-by-side comparison. criminal vs criminel
- 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.