phare
\faʁ\
The verdict
“phare” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #6,638 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,638
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tour construite à l’entrée d’un port ou à proximité d’une côte, et portant à son sommet un feu qui sert à guider les vaisseaux pendant la nuit.
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 | phare |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \faʁ\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #6,638 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “phare” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for phare is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \faʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #6,638 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for phare, with forms such as "hpare", "pahre", and "phaer". 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, "pré", "pire", "pure", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is phare, spelled P-H-A-R-E.
Definition
- 1Tour construite à l’entrée d’un port ou à proximité d’une côte, et portant à son sommet un feu qui sert à guider les vaisseaux pendant la nuit.
- 2Fanal placé sur cette bâtisse.
- 3Feu destiné à guider les avions dans la nuit.
- 4Toute source lumineuse de puissante intensité, projecteur.
- 5Projecteur puissant placé à l’avant d’un véhicule (automobile, locomotive, avion, etc.) et qui sert à éclairer la route pendant la nuit.
- 6Projecteur puissant placé à l’avant d’un véhicule (automobile, locomotive, avion, etc.) et qui sert à éclairer la route pendant la nuit.
- 7Projecteur puissant placé à l’avant d’un véhicule (automobile, locomotive, avion, etc.) et qui sert à éclairer la route pendant la nuit.
- 8Ensemble des voiles d’un mât.
- 9Personne ou chose dont le rayonnement est considérable.
- 10Meuble représentant l’édifice du même nom dans les armoiries. Il s’agit souvent d’une représentation du bâtiment du lieu. Souvent, le feu est représenté avec un autre émail. Il peut être représenté avec ses éclats représentant la lumière issue du phare allumé. Comme les châteaux, il peut être ajouré, maçonné, ouvert. À rapprocher de beffroi, donjon et tour.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hpare,pahre,phaer,pharre,phhare,phrae,pphare
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of phare - 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 "phare"?
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Using “phare”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-H-A-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \faʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pré” - see the side-by-side comparison. phare vs pré
- 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.