papillon

\pa.pi.jɔ̃\

/\pa.pi.jɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“papillon” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #8,131. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#8,131
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Insecte qui a quatre ailes couvertes de fines écailles colorées, c’est le stade imaginal du lépidoptère.

Corpus desk

Index FR-papillon · papillon · French

papillon · rank #8,131 · 10 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,131
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH otages

Nearest frequency peer: otages (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « papillon »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « papillon » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

papillon vs Peillon
63% similar
papillon vs pavillon
88% similar
papillon vs papillons
89% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for papillon
PropertyValue
Headwordpapillon
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pa.pi.jɔ̃\
Letters8
Frequency rank#8,131
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « papillon »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).papillonse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « otages » (#8,130), « perdant » (#8,132), « nocturne » (#8,129). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « papillon » est au #8,131. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around papillon (IPA \pa.pi.jɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #8,131 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 13 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

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

  1. 1
    Insecte qui a quatre ailes couvertes de fines écailles colorées, c’est le stade imaginal du lépidoptère.
  2. 2
    Personne qui, se laissant tromper par des apparences brillantes, est près de tomber dans un piège.
  3. 3
    Esprit léger qui voltige d’objets en objets.
  4. 4
    Bagatelle, considération futile.
  5. 5
    Petit 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.
  6. 6
    Procès verbal de contravention que les agents de la circulation glissent sous les essuie-glaces.
  7. 7
    Volet orientable posé dans un conduit et permettant de réguler le débit d’un fluide.
  8. 8
    Écrou en forme de papillon pouvant être serré sans outil.
  9. 9
    Style de nage ventrale, où les bras et les jambes agissent symétriquement.
  10. 10
    Sorte de bec de gaz dont la flamme evoque les ailes d'un papillon.
  11. 11
    Meuble représentant l’animal du même nom dans les armoiries.
  12. 12
    Grande douve du foie des ruminants.
  13. 13
    Nœud papillon.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Samuel était hardi comme les papillons, les hannetons et les poëtes ; il se jetait dans toutes les flammes et entrait par toutes les fenêtres.
  2. Le ver le secrète lorsqu’il est arrivé au moment où il doit se métamorphoser en papillon.

Synonyms

lépidoptèrepost-itpense-bêtebecquetprunePVvanne papillonvalve papillonécrou à ailettesécrou à oreillesécrou papillonpapillon-dauphin

This word in other languages

butterfly(English)mariposa(Español)Falter(Deutsch)borboleta(Português)

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.

appillon2paipllon2papillno2papillonn1papiloln2papilon1paplilon2pappillon1
Edit distance from "papillon"

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"?
"papillon" is spelled P-A-P-I-L-L-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \pa.pi.jɔ̃\.
What does "papillon" mean?
As a noun, "papillon" means: Insecte qui a quatre ailes couvertes de fines écailles colorées, c’est le stade imaginal du lépidoptère.
What words are commonly confused with "papillon"?
"papillon" is commonly confused with "Peillon", "pavillon", "papillons". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "papillon"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "papillon" is \pa.pi.jɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "papillon" come from?
"papillon" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "papillon", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

nocturne#8,129monnaies#8,128préférés#8,134lumineux#8,122

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

tombés10 variantsconfiée10 variantscollines10 variantsCameron10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list