maillet
\ma.jɛ\
The verdict
“maillet” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #32,061 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #32,061
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 16
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Outil ressemblant à un marteau à deux têtes, en bois, en caoutchouc ou en plastique. Il est utilisé par exemple en menuiserie pour le travail au ciseau ou par les campeurs pour planter des sardines...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | maillet |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ma.jɛ\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #32,061 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “maillet” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for maillet is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ma.jɛ\. Corpus data places it at rank #32,061 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for maillet, with forms such as "amillet", "mailelt", and "mailet". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 16 confusable-pair relationships, "mille", "malle", "Miller", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is maillet, spelled M-A-I-L-L-E-T.
Definition
- 1Outil ressemblant à un marteau à deux têtes, en bois, en caoutchouc ou en plastique. Il est utilisé par exemple en menuiserie pour le travail au ciseau ou par les campeurs pour planter des sardines dans le sol, mais aussi pour frapper sur des objets fragiles sans laisser de marque.
- 2Petit marteau entièrement en métal utilisée en chirurgie osseuse et orthopédique pour frapper sur divers instruments (gouge, ciseau).
- 3Petit mail servant au jeu de croquet.
- 4Meuble représentant l’outil du même nom dans les armoiries. Plusieurs représentations se rencontrent. On trouve aussi bien le maillet de menuisier de forme plus carrée que le maillet tonneau cerclé de métal. Il n’y a pas de règle en la matière. Sa position ordinaire est en pal, fer vers le chef. Quand il est présenté incliné, on le dit alors penché en bande ou en barre. À rapprocher de marteau, masse et massette.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amillet,mailelt,mailet,maillett,maillte,malilet,miallet,mmaillet
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of maillet - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “maillet”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is M-A-I-L-L-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ma.jɛ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mille” - see the side-by-side comparison. maillet vs mille
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.