pearl
\ˈpɝl\
The verdict
“pearl” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #16,201 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,201
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Perle.
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 | pearl |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ˈpɝl\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #16,201 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pearl” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for pearl is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ˈpɝl\. Corpus data places it at rank #16,201 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Perle.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for pearl, with forms such as "eparl", "paerl", and "pealr". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "père", "peur", "peau", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is pearl, spelled P-E-A-R-L.
Definition
- 1Perle.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eparl,paerl,pealr,pearll,pearrl,peral,ppearl
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pearl - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "pearl"?
What does "pearl" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "pearl"?
How do you pronounce "pearl"?
What language does "pearl" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “pearl”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-E-A-R-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ˈpɝl\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “père” - see the side-by-side comparison. pearl vs père
- 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.