gouffre

\ɡufʁ\

/\ɡufʁ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“gouffre” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #12,788. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#12,788
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Cavité souterraine naturelle, large et profonde.

Corpus desk

Index FR-gouffre · gouffre · French

gouffre · rank #12,788 · 8 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #12,788
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH germanique

Nearest frequency peer: germanique (-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 « gouffre »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « gouffre » 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).

gouffre vs gaufre
71% similar

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

Key facts for gouffre
PropertyValue
Headwordgouffre
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡufʁ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#12,788
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « gouffre »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).gouffrese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « germanique » (#12,787), « gouverneurs » (#12,789), « formuler » (#12,786). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « gouffre » est au #12,788. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around gouffre (IPA \ɡufʁ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #12,788 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 gouffre, with forms such as "ggouffre", "gofufre", and "gouffer". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "gaufre", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

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 gouffre, spelled G-O-U-F-F-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Cavité souterraine naturelle, large et profonde.
  2. 2
    Cavité souterraine naturelle, large et profonde.
  3. 3
    Ce qui donne une impression de vide abyssal, en parlant de certaines choses.
  4. 4
    Chose qui cause des frais, des sacrifices, des pertes immenses.
  5. 5
    Chose qui cause des frais, des sacrifices, des pertes immenses.
  6. 6
    Chose qui cause des frais, des sacrifices, des pertes immenses.
  7. 7
    Grande distance qui sépare les humains, les choses.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. A l’ouest du village de Mosnay, près du hameau des Jadrets, s’ouvre un gouffre explorable. Il s’agit de la perte d’un ruisseau coulant depuis le sud et qui, au nord de la D 30a, s’encaisse profondément dans un ravin […].
  2. Et d’autres lames s’abattaient sans cesse sur l’épave. La mer achevait son œuvre. Encore quelques chocs, et la coque effondrée allait disparaître dans le gouffre tourbillonnant du chenal.

Synonyms

avenbîmeigue

This word in other languages

cavern(English)sima(Español)Abgrund(Deutsch)abertura(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ggouffre
  • gofufre
  • gouffer
  • gouffrre
  • goufre
  • goufrfe
  • guoffre
  • oguffre

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of gouffre - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ggouffre1gofufre2gouffer2gouffrre1goufre1goufrfe2guoffre2oguffre2
Edit distance from "gouffre"

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 "gouffre"?
"gouffre" is spelled G-O-U-F-F-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡufʁ\.
What does "gouffre" mean?
As a noun, "gouffre" means: Cavité souterraine naturelle, large et profonde.
What words are commonly confused with "gouffre"?
"gouffre" is commonly confused with "gaufre". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "gouffre"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gouffre" is \ɡufʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gouffre" come from?
"gouffre" 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 "gouffre", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

grossir#12,790fluides#12,784lyrique#12,807mentaux#12,811

Similar misspelling depth

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

guilde8 variantsMuseum8 variantsNadine8 variantsbuenos8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list