houla

^((h aspiré))\u.la\

/^((h aspiré))\u.la\/ onomatopoeia

The verdict

“houla” is uncommon French (frequency #53,395 among 1,969 “H” headwords), classed as an onomatopoeia. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#53,395
frequency rank, French
1,969
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Onomatopée représentant le cri de douleur de quelqu’un.

Corpus desk

Index FR-houla · houla · French

houla · rank #53,395 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #53,395
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,969
  • PHOTO-FINISH hor

Nearest frequency peer: hor (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « houla »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « houla » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for houla
PropertyValue
Headwordhoula
LanguageFrench
Part of speechOnomatopoeia
IPA^((h aspiré))\u.la\
Letters5
Frequency rank#53,395
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « houla » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).houlatombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « hor » (#53,394), « huguenot » (#53,396), « hunting » (#53,397). Parmi 1,969 lemmes en « H », « houla » est au #53,395. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

houla is uncommon French at frequency #53,395 among 1,969 “H” headwords, classed as anonomatopoeia, transcribed ^((h aspiré))\u.la\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Onomatopée représentant le cri de douleur de quelqu’un.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for houla, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is houla, spelled H-O-U-L-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Onomatopée représentant le cri de douleur de quelqu’un.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Houla ! Houla ! Houla !

Synonyms

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 "houla"?
"houla" is spelled H-O-U-L-A. The IPA pronunciation is ^((h aspiré))\u.la\.
What does "houla" mean?
As an onomatopoeia, "houla" means: Onomatopée représentant le cri de douleur de quelqu’un.
How do you pronounce "houla"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "houla" is ^((h aspiré))\u.la\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "houla" come from?
"houla" 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 "houla", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list