griffon

\ɡʁi.fɔ̃\

/\ɡʁi.fɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“griffon” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #35,975. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#35,975
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Animal fabuleux, moitié aigle et moitié lion.

Corpus desk

Index FR-griffon · griffon · French

griffon · rank #35,975 · 9 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #35,975
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH greco

Nearest frequency peer: greco (-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 « griffon »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « griffon » 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).

griffon vs grignon
71% similar
griffon vs grillon
71% similar
griffon vs griffe
71% similar

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

Key facts for griffon
PropertyValue
Headwordgriffon
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡʁi.fɔ̃\
Letters7
Frequency rank#35,975
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « griffon »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).griffonse 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 « greco » (#35,974), « Guevara » (#35,976), « gravats » (#35,973). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « griffon » est au #35,975. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around griffon (IPA \ɡʁi.fɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #35,975 among 2,617 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for griffon, with forms such as "ggriffon", "girffon", and "grfifon". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "grignon", "grillon", "griffe", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is griffon, spelled G-R-I-F-F-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Animal fabuleux, moitié aigle et moitié lion.
  2. 2
    Meuble représentant l’animal fabuleux du même nom dans les armoiries. Il est généralement représenté rampant et tourné à dextre.
  3. 3
    Fontaine publique, car souvent la sortie d'eau était ornée d'une tête de griffon. Ce nom est toutefois encore assez courant dans les sources thermales.
  4. 4
    Ouverture naturelle d'où sort l'eau d'une source thermale.
  5. 5
    Nom vulgaire de certains oiseaux de proie.
  6. 6
    Hameçon double avec lequel on prend le brochet.
  7. 7
    Lime dentelée qui était utilisée par les tireurs d'or (ceux qui fabriquaient du fil d'or).
  8. 8
    Griffon des philosophes : Nom donné à l'antimoine par les alchimistes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. … le tapir aurait eu les honneurs du mythe classique ; les griffons d’Hérodote, gardiens de trésors, et en guerre avec les Arimaspes, seraient des tapirs défigurés par l’ignorance des populations scythiques.
  2. Voici encore, toujours chez M. Koch, un jeune chirobate du Céleste-Empire et une figure d’Ascète, et des griffons, des chimères, des fleurs, des oiseaux, toute une faune quelque peu apocalyptique.

Synonyms

grype

This word in other languages

griffin(English)grifo(Español)Greif(Deutsch)grifo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ggriffon
  • girffon
  • grfifon
  • griffno
  • griffonn
  • grifofn
  • grifon
  • grriffon
  • rgiffon

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of griffon - 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.

ggriffon1girffon2grfifon2griffno2griffonn1grifofn2grifon1grriffon1
Edit distance from "griffon"

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 "griffon"?
"griffon" is spelled G-R-I-F-F-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡʁi.fɔ̃\.
What does "griffon" mean?
As a noun, "griffon" means: Animal fabuleux, moitié aigle et moitié lion.
What words are commonly confused with "griffon"?
"griffon" is commonly confused with "grignon", "grillon", "griffe". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "griffon"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "griffon" is \ɡʁi.fɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "griffon" come from?
"griffon" 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 "griffon", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Guevara#35,976gravats#35,973goodies#35,971hipster#35,986

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

hublot9 variantsgarner9 variantsfinish9 variantsfiducie9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list