el

\ɛl\

/\ɛl\/ pron

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“el” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,437) as a pronoun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,437
frequency rank, French
3,255
“E” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier neutre. Désigne une personne dont le genre est variable (genderqueer), inconnu ou androgyne. Il est utilisé dans le cadre d’un langage non-sexiste.

Corpus desk

Index FR-el · el · French

el · rank #1,437 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,437
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH couleurs

Nearest frequency peer: couleurs (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “el”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “el” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

el vs et
50% similar
el vs en
50% similar
el vs Eu
0% similar

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

Key facts for el
PropertyValue
Headwordel
LanguageFrench
Part of speechPronoun
IPA\ɛl\
Letters2
Frequency rank#1,437
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “el” se place dans la fréquence du français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).else 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 « couleurs » (#1,436), « faudrait » (#1,438), « coin » (#1,435). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for el is neighbouring look-alikes ("et", "en", …), not just typos; it is apronoun pronounced \ɛl\. Frequency #1,437 among 3,255 “E” headwords. Gloss: "Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier neutre. Désigne une personne dont le genre est variable (genderqueer), inconnu ou androgyne. Il est utilisé dans le cadre d’un langage non-sexiste.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for el, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "et", "en", "Eu", and more, 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 el, spelled E-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier neutre. Désigne une personne dont le genre est variable (genderqueer), inconnu ou androgyne. Il est utilisé dans le cadre d’un langage non-sexiste.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. “Qui que nous envoyions, el la déboussolera” avait-elle répliqué — les Taj-Ramanes utilisaient le pronom personnel el pour désigner les hermaphrodites […].
  2. CertainEs tentent de tracer un chemin pour un “troisième genre”, ou un quatrième, ou d’autres encore… CertainEs ne veulent être ni femmes, ni hommes. C’est vrai. Et els font bien ce qu’els veulent…

Synonyms

aelalielielleilelleilleolul

This word in other languages

they(English)elle(Español)sier(Deutsch)

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 "el"?
"el" is spelled E-L. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛl\.
What does "el" mean?
As a pronoun, "el" means: Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier neutre. Désigne une personne dont le genre est variable (genderqueer), inconnu ou androgyne. Il est utilisé dans le cadre d’un langage non-sexiste.
What words are commonly confused with "el"?
"el" is commonly confused with "et", "en", "Eu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "el"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "el" is \ɛl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "el" come from?
"el" 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.

What to do next

You've looked up "el". Here's where to go from here.

  • "el" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "et". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #1,437 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "E" letter cohort. E–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list