papillon
\pa.pi.jɔ̃\
The verdict
“papillon” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #8,131 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,131
- frequency rank, French
- 8
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Insecte qui a quatre ailes couvertes de fines écailles colorées, c’est le stade imaginal du lépidoptère.
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 | papillon |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \pa.pi.jɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #8,131 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “papillon” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for papillon is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pa.pi.jɔ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #8,131 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for papillon, with forms such as "appillon", "paipllon", and "papillno". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "Peillon", "pavillon", "papillons", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is papillon, spelled P-A-P-I-L-L-O-N.
Definition
- 1Insecte qui a quatre ailes couvertes de fines écailles colorées, c’est le stade imaginal du lépidoptère.
- 2Personne qui, se laissant tromper par des apparences brillantes, est près de tomber dans un piège.
- 3Esprit léger qui voltige d’objets en objets.
- 4Bagatelle, considération futile.
- 5Petit papier détachable à bande semi-adhésive ou simple papier collé à l’intérieur d’un livre, d’une revue, pour donner un avis au lecteur, indiquer un erratum, etc.
- 6Procès verbal de contravention que les agents de la circulation glissent sous les essuie-glaces.
- 7Volet orientable posé dans un conduit et permettant de réguler le débit d’un fluide.
- 8Écrou en forme de papillon pouvant être serré sans outil.
- 9Style de nage ventrale, où les bras et les jambes agissent symétriquement.
- 10Sorte de bec de gaz dont la flamme evoque les ailes d'un papillon.
- 11Meuble représentant l’animal du même nom dans les armoiries.
- 12Grande douve du foie des ruminants.
- 13Nœud papillon.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: appillon,paipllon,papillno,papillonn,papiloln,papilon,paplilon,pappillon,ppaillon,ppapillon
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of papillon - 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
How do you spell "papillon"?
What does "papillon" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "papillon"?
How do you pronounce "papillon"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “papillon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-A-P-I-L-L-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \pa.pi.jɔ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Peillon” - see the side-by-side comparison. papillon vs Peillon
- 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.