hélas
^((h aspiré))\e.las\
The verdict
“hélas” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #5,142. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,142
- frequency rank, French
- 1,969
- “H” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 17
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Marque l’affliction, le regret ou la déception ; exprime une plainte.
Corpus desk
Index FR-helas · hélas · French
hélas · rank #5,142 · 8 variants · 17 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #5,142
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,969
- PHOTO-FINISH Hitler
Nearest frequency peer: Hitler (-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 « hélas »
Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin
- géographique
géographique
94,862 corpus weight
- Hamon
Hamon
94,861 corpus weight
- Hitler
Hitler
94,860 corpus weight
- hélas
hélas
94,859 corpus weight
- illustre
illustre
94,858 corpus weight
- immeubles
immeubles
94,857 corpus weight
What this shows « hélas » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hélas |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | ^((h aspiré))\e.las\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #5,142 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 17 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « hélas »
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around hélas (IPA ^((h aspiré))\e.las\), aninterjection. Corpus frequency is #5,142 among 1,969 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for hélas, with forms such as "helas", "hhélas", and "hléas". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 17 confusable-pair relationships, "help", "hell", "hess", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is hélas, spelled H-É-L-A-S.
Definition
- 1Marque l’affliction, le regret ou la déception ; exprime une plainte.
- 2Marque le désespoir ou l’impuissance.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hélas appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Ô jour affreux! hélas! Tout fut englouti.
Je ne parlerai pas ici des couvents qui se font maison de force, des affaires de Sens, Avignon, Poitiers, ni des suicides qui ont eu lieu, hélas! bien plus près de nous.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- helas
- hhélas
- hléas
- héals
- hélass
- héllas
- hélsa
- éhlas
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hélas - 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.
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 "hélas"?
What does "hélas" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "hélas"?
How do you pronounce "hélas"?
What language does "hélas" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hélas", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).