lavabo

\la.va.bo\

/\la.va.bo\/ noun

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

The verdict

“lavabo” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #23,266. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#23,266
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Prière que le prêtre dit en lavant ses doigts durant la messe, avant la consécration.

Corpus desk

Index FR-lavabo · lavabo · French

lavabo · rank #23,266 · 8 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #23,266
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH laborieux

Nearest frequency peer: laborieux (-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 « lavabo »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « lavabo » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

lavabo vs Laval
50% similar
lavabo vs lavage
67% similar
lavabo vs lavant
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for lavabo
PropertyValue
Headwordlavabo
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\la.va.bo\
Letters6
Frequency rank#23,266
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « lavabo »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.lavabose place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « laborieux » (#23,265), « Lennon » (#23,267), « Kamel » (#23,264). Parmi 2,567 lemmes en « L », « lavabo » est au #23,266. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around lavabo (IPA \la.va.bo\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #23,266 among 2,567 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for lavabo, with forms such as "alvabo", "laavbo", and "lavabbo". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "Laval", "lavage", "lavant", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is lavabo, spelled L-A-V-A-B-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Prière que le prêtre dit en lavant ses doigts durant la messe, avant la consécration.
  2. 2
    Vasque destinée aux ablutions du prêtre officiant.
  3. 3
    Dispositif mobile garni d’une cuvette et d’un pot à eau ou d’une cuvette fixe, surmontée de robinets et dotée d’un trou d’évacuation d’eau et destinée à se laver.
  4. 4
    Pièce où est fixée cette sorte de cuvette.
  5. 5
    Cabinet d’aisances installé dans cette pièce ou à proximité.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Mistingue.– Une brosse ! du savon !… Ils courent au lavabo, qu’ils apportent sur le devant de la scène et s’y lavent les mains.
  2. Il serait difficile de décrire le pittoresque désordre qui règne dans ce noir séjour à l’heure où chacun attend son tour de passer à l’unique lavabo.

Synonyms

cabinet de toilettesalle de baintoilettestoilettes publiqueswc

This word in other languages

washbasin(English)lavabo(Español)Waschbecken(Deutsch)lavatório(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • alvabo
  • laavbo
  • lavabbo
  • lavaob
  • lavbao
  • lavvabo
  • llavabo
  • lvaabo

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lavabo - 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.

alvabo2laavbo2lavabbo1lavaob2lavbao2lavvabo1llavabo1lvaabo2
Edit distance from "lavabo"

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 "lavabo"?
"lavabo" is spelled L-A-V-A-B-O. The IPA pronunciation is \la.va.bo\.
What does "lavabo" mean?
As a noun, "lavabo" means: Prière que le prêtre dit en lavant ses doigts durant la messe, avant la consécration.
What words are commonly confused with "lavabo"?
"lavabo" is commonly confused with "Laval", "lavage", "lavant". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "lavabo"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lavabo" is \la.va.bo\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "lavabo" come from?
"lavabo" 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 "lavabo", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Lennon#23,267jouons#23,262lundis#23,270Jessie#23,261

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

Indian8 variantsNapoli8 variantsGoethe8 variantsexigée8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list