notch

\nɒt͡ʃ\

/\nɒt͡ʃ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“notch” is uncommon French (frequency #80,460 among 1,563 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#80,460
frequency rank, French
1,563
“N” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Encoche, cran.

Corpus desk

Index FR-notch · notch · French

notch · rank #80,460 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #80,460
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,563
  • PHOTO-FINISH novare

Nearest frequency peer: novare (+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 « notch »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for notch
PropertyValue
Headwordnotch
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\nɒt͡ʃ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#80,460
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « notch » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.notchtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « novare » (#80,461), « Nicolette » (#80,458), « nymphéas » (#80,462). Parmi 1,563 lemmes en « N », « notch » est au #80,460. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

notch is uncommon French at frequency #80,460 among 1,563 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \nɒt͡ʃ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

notch doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is notch, spelled N-O-T-C-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    Encoche, cran.
  2. 2
    Col de montagne.
  3. 3
    Cran.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. A notch is a V-shaped cut, or other indentation.
  2. A notch is a mountain pass, a defile.

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 "notch"?
"notch" is spelled N-O-T-C-H. The IPA pronunciation is \nɒt͡ʃ\.
What does "notch" mean?
As a noun, "notch" means: Encoche, cran.
How do you pronounce "notch"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "notch" is \nɒt͡ʃ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "notch" come from?
"notch" 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 "notch", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Naïma#80,455mungo#80,446mujer#80,443Monia#80,437

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list