gâteau

\ɡa.to\

/\ɡa.to\/ noun

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

The verdict

“gâteau” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #4,494. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,494
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pâtisserie à base de pâte obtenue en mélangeant généralement de la farine, des œufs, du beurre et du sucre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-gateau · gâteau · French

gâteau · rank #4,494 · 8 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,494
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH graphique

Nearest frequency peer: graphique (-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 « gâteau »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « gâteau » 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).

gâteau vs gâter
67% similar
gâteau vs gâtée
50% similar
gâteau vs gâteaux
86% similar

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

Key facts for gâteau
PropertyValue
Headwordgâteau
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡa.to\
Letters6
Frequency rank#4,494
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « gâteau »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.gâteause 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 « graphique » (#4,493), « indépendants » (#4,495), « gosse » (#4,492). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « gâteau » est au #4,494. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around gâteau (IPA \ɡa.to\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,494 among 2,617 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for gâteau, with forms such as "gateau", "ggâteau", and "gtâeau". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "gâter", "gâtée", "gâteaux", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is gâteau, spelled G-Â-T-E-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pâtisserie à base de pâte obtenue en mélangeant généralement de la farine, des œufs, du beurre et du sucre.
  2. 2
    Sorte de pâtisserie salée.
  3. 3
    Quelque affaire utile, avantageuse.
  4. 4
    Profit.
  5. 5
    Toute matière pétrie et aplatie en forme de gâteau.
  6. 6
    Morceau de cire ou de terre dont les sculpteurs remplissent les creux et les pièces d’un moule où ils veulent mouler une figure.
  7. 7
    Tarte.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Elle s’approcha sans bruit de Charles IX, qui donnait à ses chiens des fragments de gâteaux coupés en portions pareilles.
  2. — Végétariens et végétaliens seront heureux d'apprendre que les veloutés, gâteaux et la plupart des wraps sont réalisés avec des ingrédients d’origine végétale.

This word in other languages

cake(English)pastel(Español)Kuchen(Deutsch)bolo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • gateau
  • ggâteau
  • gtâeau
  • gâetau
  • gâtaeu
  • gâteua
  • gâtteau
  • âgteau

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of gâteau - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

gateau1ggâteau1gtâeau2gâetau2gâtaeu2gâteua2gâtteau1âgteau2
Edit distance from "gâteau"

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 "gâteau"?
"gâteau" is spelled G-Â-T-E-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡa.to\.
What does "gâteau" mean?
As a noun, "gâteau" means: Pâtisserie à base de pâte obtenue en mélangeant généralement de la farine, des œufs, du beurre et du sucre.
What words are commonly confused with "gâteau"?
"gâteau" is commonly confused with "gâter", "gâtée", "gâteaux". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "gâteau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gâteau" is \ɡa.to\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gâteau" come from?
"gâteau" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "gâteau", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

genres#4,490fesses#4,489exposé#4,488danser#4,481

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

césar8 variantsMathieu8 variantscraint8 variantscolonne8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list