knew

\ˈnu\

/\ˈnu\/ verb

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

The verdict

“knew” is uncommon French (frequency #57,363 among 737 “K” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,363
frequency rank, French
737
“K” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Prétérit de know.

Corpus desk

Index FR-knew · knew · French

knew · rank #57,363 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,363
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 737
  • PHOTO-FINISH képi

Nearest frequency peer: képi (+2 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 « knew »

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 « knew » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for knew
PropertyValue
Headwordknew
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ˈnu\
Letters4
Frequency rank#57,363
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « knew » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.knewtombe 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: « képi » (#57,365), « lacrosse » (#57,366), « Karthala » (#57,359). Parmi 737 lemmes en « K », « knew » est au #57,363. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

knew is uncommon French at frequency #57,363 among 737 “K” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \ˈnu\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Prétérit de know.".

knew has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is knew, spelled K-N-E-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    Prétérit de know.

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 "knew"?
"knew" is spelled K-N-E-W. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈnu\.
What does "knew" mean?
As a verb, "knew" means: Prétérit de know.
How do you pronounce "knew"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "knew" is \ˈnu\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "knew" come from?
"knew" 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 "knew", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

képi#57,365Leno#57,379Lora#57,394madi#57,402

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list