pilot

\pi.lo\

/\pi.lo\/ noun

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

The verdict

“pilot” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #31,183. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#31,183
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Gros pieu de pilotis.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pilot · pilot · French

pilot · rank #31,183 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #31,183
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH plaisanter

Nearest frequency peer: plaisanter (+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 « pilot »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « pilot » 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).

pilot vs pot
60% similar
pilot vs pit
60% similar
pilot vs pio
60% similar

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

Key facts for pilot
PropertyValue
Headwordpilot
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pi.lo\
Letters5
Frequency rank#31,183
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « pilot »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).pilotse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « plaisanter » (#31,184), « photovoltaïques » (#31,181), « plantées » (#31,185). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pilot » est au #31,183. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around pilot (IPA \pi.lo\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #31,183 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for pilot, with forms such as "iplot", "pillot", and "pilott". 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, "pot", "pit", "pio", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is pilot, spelled P-I-L-O-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Gros pieu de pilotis.
  2. 2
    Tas de sel au bord d’un marais salant.
  3. 3
    Tas.
  4. 4
    Chiffon pour la fabrication du papier.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On appelle pilotis l’ensemble de ces pilots dont on emplit l’intervalle en maçonnerie de blocage, et que l’on repère de niveau pour y poser des racineaux ou un gril en charpente, sur lequel on place des libages pour recevoir la fondation d’un édifice.
  2. Les petits pilots en bois de l'appontement se reflétaient dans l'eau en spirales grises.

This word in other languages

pile(English)pilote(Español)Pilot(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • iplot
  • pillot
  • pilott
  • pilto
  • piolt
  • pliot
  • ppilot

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pilot - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

iplot2pillot1pilott1pilto2piolt2pliot2ppilot1
Edit distance from "pilot"

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 "pilot"?
"pilot" is spelled P-I-L-O-T. The IPA pronunciation is \pi.lo\.
What does "pilot" mean?
As a noun, "pilot" means: Gros pieu de pilotis.
What words are commonly confused with "pilot"?
"pilot" is commonly confused with "pot", "pit", "pio". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pilot"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pilot" is \pi.lo\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pilot" come from?
"pilot" 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 "pilot", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

redit#31,212Reese#31,214muses#31,145mouse#31,143

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

revit7 variantsRonan7 variantsRosen7 variantsRoxane7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list