elk
\ɛlk\
The verdict
“elk” is uncommon French (frequency #73,956 among 201,161 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #73,956
- frequency rank, French
- 201,161
- “E” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Orignal, élan d’Amérique (Alces alces).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | elk |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ɛlk\ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #73,956 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “elk” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
elk is uncommon French at frequency #73,956 among 201,161 “E” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɛlk\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for elk, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is elk, spelled E-L-K.
Definition
- 1Orignal, élan d’Amérique (Alces alces).
- 2Wapiti (Cervus canadensis).
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 “elk”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is E-L-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɛlk\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Other uncommon French words near this rank
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.