ombre

/\ɔ̃bʁ\/ noun

Letters

5 characters

Frequency Rank

#2,488

in French word usage

Misspellings

7

tracked variants

Confusables

12

similar word pairs

ombre is aFrenchnoun. It means: Obscurité relative que cause un corps opaque en interceptant la lumière. Pronounced \ɔ̃bʁ\. It ranks #2,488 in French word frequency. Often confused with Omer and orbe.

Key facts for ombre
PropertyValue
Headwordombre
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔ̃bʁ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#2,488
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for ombre is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɔ̃bʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,488 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 18 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for ombre, with forms such as "mobre", "obmre", and "ombbre". 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 12 confusable-pair relationships, "Omer", "orbe", "ordre", 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 ombre, spelled O-M-B-R-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Obscurité relative que cause un corps opaque en interceptant la lumière.
  2. 2
    Absence de clarté ; obscurité ; nuit.
  3. 3
    Silhouette, contour projeté par la lumière et intercepté par un corps.
  4. 4
    Ce qui dissimule ou empêche de connaître, ce qui est caché, oublié, mystérieux.
  5. 5
    Personne anonyme.
  6. 6
    Fidèle ou inséparable compagnon.
  7. 7
    Être ou chose que l’ombre accompagne normalement mais qui brille par son absence.
  8. 8
    Personne amenée par un invité, convive.
  9. 9
    Vague forme humaine.
  10. 10
    Légère apparence.
  11. 11
    Apparence trompeuse, chimère.
  12. 12
    Âme après qu’elle a quitté le corps ; fantôme ; esprit.
  13. 13
    Personne ou chose personnifiée qui a cessé d’être ou perdu les qualités, les avantages qui faisaient sa force, sa grandeur, son éclat.
  14. 14
    Couleur sombre qu’on emploie dans un tableau pour ombrer et donner du relief aux parties éclairées → voir clair-obscur.
  15. 15
    En psychologie jungienne, parties de soi qui comportent les parts que l'on maintient ou rejette dans l'inconscient pour des motifs moraux ou sociaux.
  16. 16
    Ce qui attriste, inquiète, assombrit le moral, nuit à la sérénité de l’esprit, tristesse, spleen, mélancolie.
  17. 17
    Expression de tristesse, d’inquiétude.
  18. 18
    Voir ombre de.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: mobre,obmre,ombbre,omber,ombrre,ommbre,omrbe

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for ombre

Misspelling Variants of "ombre"

mobre5obmre5ombbre6omber5ombrre6ommbre6omrbe5
Misspelling Variants of "ombre"

Frequency rank: #2,488 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ombre"?
"ombre" is spelled O-M-B-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔ̃bʁ\.
What does "ombre" mean?
As a noun, "ombre" means: Obscurité relative que cause un corps opaque en interceptant la lumière.
What words are commonly confused with "ombre"?
"ombre" is commonly confused with "Omer", "orbe", "ordre". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ombre"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ombre" is \ɔ̃bʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ombre" come from?
"ombre" 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 O 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.