early
\ˈɝ.li\
The verdict
“early” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #23,530 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #23,530
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Précoce (pour un objet).
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 | early |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ˈɝ.li\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #23,530 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “early” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for early is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ˈɝ.li\. Corpus data places it at rank #23,530 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for early, with forms such as "aerly", "ealry", and "earlly". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "ely", "easy", "Évry", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
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 early, spelled E-A-R-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Précoce (pour un objet).
- 2En début de (pour un processus ou une période).
- 3Anticipé, en particulier pour un vote, un scrutin ou une élection.
Antonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aerly,ealry,earlly,earlyy,earrly,earyl,eraly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of early - 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 “early”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is E-A-R-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ˈɝ.li\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ely” - see the side-by-side comparison. early vs ely
- 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.