épave

\e.pav\

/\e.pav\/ adj

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

The verdict

“épave” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #13,498. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,498
frequency rank, French
1,805
“É” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est égaré et dont on ne connaît pas le propriétaire. S’utilise surtout pour les animaux d’élevage.

Corpus desk

Index FR-epave · épave · French

épave · rank #13,498 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,498
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,805
  • PHOTO-FINISH éolien

Nearest frequency peer: éolien (-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 « épave »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « épave » 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).

épave vs eve
40% similar
épave vs épée
60% similar
épave vs étape
60% similar

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

Key facts for épave
PropertyValue
Headwordépave
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\e.pav\
Letters5
Frequency rank#13,498
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « épave »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).épavese 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 « éolien » (#13,497), « érable » (#13,499), « énoncé » (#13,496). Parmi 1,805 lemmes en « É », « épave » est au #13,498. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around épave (IPA \e.pav\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #13,498 among 1,805 “É” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Qui est égaré et dont on ne connaît pas le propriétaire. S’utilise surtout pour les animaux d’élevage.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for épave, with forms such as "epave", "péave", and "éapve". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "eve", "épée", "étape", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is épave, spelled É-P-A-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est égaré et dont on ne connaît pas le propriétaire. S’utilise surtout pour les animaux d’élevage.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Un cheval épave.
  2. Des biens épaves.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • epave
  • péave
  • éapve
  • épaev
  • épavve
  • éppave
  • épvae

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of épave - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

epave1péave2éapve2épaev2épavve1éppave1épvae2
Edit distance from "épave"

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 "épave"?
"épave" is spelled É-P-A-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is \e.pav\.
What does "épave" mean?
As an adjective, "épave" means: Qui est égaré et dont on ne connaît pas le propriétaire. S’utilise surtout pour les animaux d’élevage.
What words are commonly confused with "épave"?
"épave" is commonly confused with "eve", "épée", "étape". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "épave"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "épave" is \e.pav\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "épave" come from?
"épave" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "épave", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

accru#13,502aisée#13,505viole#13,489vanne#13,487

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

Auxerre7 variantssente7 variantsSacha7 variantsrhume7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list