empaler
\ɑ̃.pa.le\
The verdict
“empaler” is uncommon French (frequency #64,416 among 3,255 “E” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,416
- frequency rank, French
- 3,255
- “E” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Transpercer d’un pal par le fondement.
Corpus desk
Index FR-empaler · empaler · French
empaler · rank #64,416 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #64,416
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,255
- PHOTO-FINISH empile
Nearest frequency peer: empile (+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.
Rangs de longue queue près de « empaler »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- Elne
Elne
35,589 corpus weight
- embarquait
embarquait
35,588 corpus weight
- empaler
empaler
35,585 corpus weight
- empile
empile
35,584 corpus weight
- enclavée
enclavée
35,583 corpus weight
- encombrées
encombrées
35,582 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « empaler » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | empaler |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \ɑ̃.pa.le\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #64,416 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « empaler » en français
Rare enough to double-check
empaler is uncommon French at frequency #64,416 among 3,255 “E” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \ɑ̃.pa.le\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
empaler doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is empaler, spelled E-M-P-A-L-E-R.
Definition
- 1Transpercer d’un pal par le fondement.
- 2Planter, accrocher sur une pointe, une épine.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how empaler appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Celui qui, se trouvant à la Mecque, irait insulter aux cendres de Mahomet, renverser ses autels, et troubler toute une mosquée, se ferait empaler, à coup sûr, et ne serait peut-être pas canonisé.
Un mot, Sire ! Un mot de vous ! Et je saisis le Concini et je l’empale sur la flèche de la Sainte-Chapelle !
This word in other languages
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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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "empaler", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).