gouvernail

\ɡu.vɛʁ.naj\

/\ɡu.vɛʁ.naj\/ noun

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

The verdict

“gouvernail” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #31,523. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#31,523
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords
14
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dispositif mobile, fixé à l’arrière d’un navire, d’un bateau, d’un avion qui sert à lui faire prendre telle ou telle direction, le faire aller du côté qu’on veut.

Corpus desk

Index FR-gouvernail · gouvernail · French

gouvernail · rank #31,523 · 14 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #31,523
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH glander

Nearest frequency peer: glander (-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 « gouvernail »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « gouvernail » 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
Key facts for gouvernail
PropertyValue
Headwordgouvernail
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡu.vɛʁ.naj\
Letters10
Frequency rank#31,523
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « gouvernail »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).gouvernailse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « glander » (#31,522), « Gravitation » (#31,524), « glaciale » (#31,521). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « gouvernail » est au #31,523. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around gouvernail (IPA \ɡu.vɛʁ.naj\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #31,523 among 2,617 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for gouvernail, with forms such as "ggouvernail", "gouevrnail", and "gouvenrail". 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 is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is gouvernail, spelled G-O-U-V-E-R-N-A-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dispositif mobile, fixé à l’arrière d’un navire, d’un bateau, d’un avion qui sert à lui faire prendre telle ou telle direction, le faire aller du côté qu’on veut.
  2. 2
    Personne pagayant à l'arrière d'un canot, chargé notamment de l'orientation de celui-ci.
  3. 3
    Gouvernement d’un État ou d’une grande entreprise.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Quelques jours après, le brick perdit son grand mât et son gouvernail pendant un grain.
  2. Le gouvernail et l'étambot furent brisés ; mais il suffisait à Mikkelsen que le bateau flottât.

This word in other languages

rudder(English)timón(Español)Ruder(Deutsch)leme(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ggouvernail
  • gouevrnail
  • gouvenrail
  • gouveranil
  • gouvernaill
  • gouvernali
  • gouvernial
  • gouvernnail
  • gouverrnail
  • gouvrenail
  • gouvvernail
  • govuernail
  • guovernail
  • oguvernail

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ggouvernail1gouevrnail2gouvenrail2gouveranil2gouvernaill1gouvernali2gouvernial2gouvernnail1
Edit distance from "gouvernail"

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 "gouvernail"?
"gouvernail" is spelled G-O-U-V-E-R-N-A-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡu.vɛʁ.naj\.
What does "gouvernail" mean?
As a noun, "gouvernail" means: Dispositif mobile, fixé à l’arrière d’un navire, d’un bateau, d’un avion qui sert à lui faire prendre telle ou telle direction, le faire aller du côté qu’on veut.
What are common misspellings of "gouvernail"?
Common misspellings include "ggouvernail", "gouevrnail", "gouvenrail", "gouveranil", "gouvernaill". The correct spelling is "gouvernail".
How do you pronounce "gouvernail"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gouvernail" is \ɡu.vɛʁ.naj\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gouvernail" come from?
"gouvernail" 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 "gouvernail", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

grossières#31,527impartiale#31,547inflexible#31,551influentes#31,552

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

garnisons14 variantsinhibition14 variantsentreront14 variantsjustifiés14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list