hélium

/^((h muet))\e.ljɔm\/ noun

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#25,353

in French word usage

Misspellings

9

tracked variants

Confusables

2

similar word pairs

hélium is aFrenchnoun. It means: Élément chimique de numéro atomique 2 et de symbole He qui fait partie à la série de gaz nobles. Pronounced ^((h muet))\e.ljɔm\. Often confused with Helmut and hélice.

Key facts for hélium
PropertyValue
Headwordhélium
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA^((h muet))\e.ljɔm\
Letters6
Frequency rank#25,353
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of hélium in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for hélium is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as ^((h muet))\e.ljɔm\. Corpus data places it at rank #25,353 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for hélium, with forms such as "helium", "hhélium", and "hléium". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "Helmut", "hélice", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is hélium, spelled H-É-L-I-U-M, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Élément chimique de numéro atomique 2 et de symbole He qui fait partie à la série de gaz nobles.
  2. 2
    Corps simple gazeux monoatomique incolore, inodore, insipide et ininflammable. Il est en outre très léger et en pratique chimiquement inerte.
  3. 3
    (Rare) (Chimie physique) Atome d’hélium. S’il s’agit de noyaux sans leur escorte d’électrons, on parlera plutôt d’hélions. #* Le détecteur est capable de réagir à une concentration aussi faible que dix héliums par mètre cube.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: helium,hhélium,hléium,héilum,hélimu,héliumm,héllium,héluim,éhlium

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for hélium

Misspelling Variants of "hélium"

helium6hhélium7hléium6héilum6hélimu6héliumm7héllium7héluim6
Misspelling Variants of "hélium"

Frequency rank: #25,353 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hélium"?
"hélium" is spelled H-É-L-I-U-M. The IPA pronunciation is ^((h muet))\e.ljɔm\.
What does "hélium" mean?
As a noun, "hélium" means: Élément chimique de numéro atomique 2 et de symbole He qui fait partie à la série de gaz nobles.
What words are commonly confused with "hélium"?
"hélium" is commonly confused with "Helmut", "hélice". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "hélium"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hélium" is ^((h muet))\e.ljɔm\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "hélium" come from?
"hélium" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter H in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.