oups
\ups\
The verdict
“oups” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #14,106 in French word frequency and used as an interjection.
- #14,106
- frequency rank, French
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Marque la surprise chez quelqu’un lorsqu’il prend conscience qu’une mésaventure lui arrive.
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 | oups |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | \ups\ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #14,106 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “oups” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for oups is 4 letters long, classified as an interjection, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ups\. Corpus data places it at rank #14,106 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for oups, with forms such as "oupps", "oupss", and "ousp". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "out", "our", "ours", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Our source data has no etymology on file 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 oups, spelled O-U-P-S.
Definition
- 1Marque la surprise chez quelqu’un lorsqu’il prend conscience qu’une mésaventure lui arrive.
- 2Prononcée à la découverte d’un oubli, d’une erreur par l’auteur de ce manquement, fait parfois acte de contrition (réclame le pardon).
- 3Apparait à l’écrit de façon ironique, pour dénoncer un manquement, souligner le ridicule d’une situation.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: oupps,oupss,ousp,uops
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of oups - 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 “oups”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is O-U-P-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ups\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “out” - see the side-by-side comparison. oups vs out
- 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.