kcal

symbol

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#41,369

in French word usage

Misspellings

6

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

kcal is aFrenchsymbol. It means: Symbole de la kilocalorie, unité de mesure d’énergie. Often confused with kil and kia.

Key facts for kcal
PropertyValue
Headwordkcal
LanguageFrench
Part of speechSymbol
Letters4
Frequency rank#41,369
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for kcal is 4 letters long, classified as asymbol. Corpus data places it at rank #41,369 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Symbole de la kilocalorie, unité de mesure d’énergie.".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for kcal, with forms such as "ckal", "kacl", and "kcall". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "kil", "kia", "kel", and more, 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 kcal, spelled K-C-A-L, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Symbole de la kilocalorie, unité de mesure d’énergie.

Synonyms

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ckal,kacl,kcall,kccal,kcla,kkcal

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for kcal

Misspelling Variants of "kcal"

ckal4kacl4kcall5kccal5kcla4kkcal5
Misspelling Variants of "kcal"

Frequency rank: #41,369 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "kcal"?
"kcal" is spelled K-C-A-L.
What does "kcal" mean?
As a symbol, "kcal" means: Symbole de la kilocalorie, unité de mesure d’énergie.
What words are commonly confused with "kcal"?
"kcal" is commonly confused with "kil", "kia", "kel". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "kcal" come from?
"kcal" 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 K 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.