dorsal

\dɔʁ.sal\

/\dɔʁ.sal\/ adj

The verdict

“dorsal” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #46,708. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#46,708
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
7
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui appartient au dos.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dorsal · dorsal · French

dorsal · rank #46,708 · 9 variants · 7 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #46,708
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH Dombes

Nearest frequency peer: Dombes (-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 « dorsal »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « dorsal » 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).

dorsal vs Dorval
67% similar
dorsal vs dorsale
86% similar
dorsal vs dorsales
75% similar

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

Key facts for dorsal
PropertyValue
Headworddorsal
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\dɔʁ.sal\
Letters6
Frequency rank#46,708
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « dorsal »

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Dombes » (#46,707), « douées » (#46,709), « dribble » (#46,710). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dorsal » est au #46,708. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around dorsal (IPA \dɔʁ.sal\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #46,708 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for dorsal, with forms such as "ddorsal", "dorasl", and "dorrsal". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "Dorval", "dorsale", "dorsales", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is dorsal, spelled D-O-R-S-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui appartient au dos.
  2. 2
    Ce qui occupe le dos, le revers, d’une chose.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. L’épine dorsale. - La région dorsale. - Les vertèbres dorsales.
  2. La fièvre aphteuse (cocotte), grave chez les bovidés, peut être transmise à l’espèce humaine. Elle donne lieu alors à une stomatite caractérisée par la fièvre et une éruption de grosses vésicules qui ont pour siège d’élection la face dorsale de la langue.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddorsal
  • dorasl
  • dorrsal
  • dorsall
  • dorsla
  • dorssal
  • dosral
  • drosal
  • odrsal

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ddorsal1dorasl2dorrsal1dorsall1dorsla2dorssal1dosral2drosal2
Edit distance from "dorsal"

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 "dorsal"?
"dorsal" is spelled D-O-R-S-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \dɔʁ.sal\.
What does "dorsal" mean?
As an adjective, "dorsal" means: Qui appartient au dos.
What words are commonly confused with "dorsal"?
"dorsal" is commonly confused with "Dorval", "dorsale", "dorsales". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dorsal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dorsal" is \dɔʁ.sal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dorsal" come from?
"dorsal" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dorsal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list