pinceau

\pɛ̃.so\

/\pɛ̃.so\/ noun

The verdict

“pinceau” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #14,757. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#14,757
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
7
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Instrument pour peindre, appliquer et étendre des couleurs, du vernis, etc., et qui consiste en un assemblage de poils attaché à l’extrémité d’une hampe, ou retenu au bout d’un tuyau de plume.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pinceau · pinceau · French

pinceau · rank #14,757 · 9 variants · 7 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #14,757
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH pendu

Nearest frequency peer: pendu (-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 « pinceau »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « pinceau » 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).

pinceau vs puceau
71% similar
pinceau vs pincée
57% similar
pinceau vs pincer
71% similar

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

Key facts for pinceau
PropertyValue
Headwordpinceau
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɛ̃.so\
Letters7
Frequency rank#14,757
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « pinceau »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).pinceause 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 « pendu » (#14,756), « peints » (#14,755), « pavés » (#14,754). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pinceau » est au #14,757. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around pinceau (IPA \pɛ̃.so\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #14,757 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for pinceau, with forms such as "ipnceau", "picneau", and "pincaeu". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "puceau", "pincée", "pincer", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is pinceau, spelled P-I-N-C-E-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Instrument pour peindre, appliquer et étendre des couleurs, du vernis, etc., et qui consiste en un assemblage de poils attaché à l’extrémité d’une hampe, ou retenu au bout d’un tuyau de plume.
  2. 2
    Caractère de ce qui ressemble à un pinceau.
  3. 3
    Art de peindre.
  4. 4
    Manière de peindre.
  5. 5
    Faisceau de lumière.
  6. 6
    Pied.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le vieillard appartenait aux modèles affectionnés par les mâles pinceaux de Schnetz ; c’était un visage brun dont les rides nombreuses paraissaient rudes au toucher, un nez droit, des pommettes saillantes et veinées de rouge comme une vieille feuille de vigne, de contours anguleux, tous les caractères de la force, même là où la force avait disparu ; ses m…
  2. Un régiment d’ouvriers et pas mal de jeunes apprentis colorent les images au pochoir. Armés d’un formidable pinceau, de forme spéciale, ils trempent d’un mouvement rythmé dans un pot de couleur pour le passer sur le patron.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ipnceau
  • picneau
  • pincaeu
  • pincceau
  • pinceua
  • pinecau
  • pinnceau
  • pniceau
  • ppinceau

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pinceau - 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.

ipnceau2picneau2pincaeu2pincceau1pinceua2pinecau2pinnceau1pniceau2
Edit distance from "pinceau"

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 "pinceau"?
"pinceau" is spelled P-I-N-C-E-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is \pɛ̃.so\.
What does "pinceau" mean?
As a noun, "pinceau" means: Instrument pour peindre, appliquer et étendre des couleurs, du vernis, etc., et qui consiste en un assemblage de poils attaché à l’extrémité d’une hampe, ou retenu au bout d’un tuyau de plume.
What words are commonly confused with "pinceau"?
"pinceau" is commonly confused with "puceau", "pincée", "pincer". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pinceau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pinceau" is \pɛ̃.so\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pinceau" come from?
"pinceau" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "pinceau", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list