pingouin

\pɛ̃.ɡwɛ̃\

/\pɛ̃.ɡwɛ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“pingouin” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #23,977. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#23,977
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Oiseau palmipède piscivore membre de la famille des alcidés des océans de l’hémisphère nord.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pingouin · pingouin · French

pingouin · rank #23,977 · 11 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #23,977
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH pertinemment

Nearest frequency peer: pertinemment (-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 « pingouin »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « pingouin » 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).

pingouin vs pingouins
89% similar

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

Key facts for pingouin
PropertyValue
Headwordpingouin
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɛ̃.ɡwɛ̃\
Letters8
Frequency rank#23,977
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « pingouin »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).pingouinse 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 « pertinemment » (#23,976), « piédestal » (#23,978), « patrimoniale » (#23,975). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pingouin » est au #23,977. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around pingouin (IPA \pɛ̃.ɡwɛ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #23,977 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for pingouin, with forms such as "ipngouin", "pignouin", and "pinggouin". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "pingouins", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is pingouin, spelled P-I-N-G-O-U-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Oiseau palmipède piscivore membre de la famille des alcidés des océans de l’hémisphère nord.
  2. 2
    Manchot.
  3. 3
    Individu qu’on ne prend pas au sérieux, zigoto.
  4. 4
    Individu habillé en costume-cravate noir et blanc, l'uniforme type de l'employé de bureau.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le pingouin utilise ses ailes comme des nageoires pour pêcher sa nourriture. Contrairement au manchot, le pingouin est capable de voler.
  2. En utilisant des numériseurs au laser pour réaliser la reconstitution de ces animaux, les chercheurs estiment que le poids de ces pingouins pouvait atteindre 154 kilogrammes.

This word in other languages

auk(English)alca(Español)Alk(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ipngouin
  • pignouin
  • pinggouin
  • pingoiun
  • pingouinn
  • pingouni
  • pinguoin
  • pinngouin
  • pinoguin
  • pnigouin
  • ppingouin

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pingouin - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ipngouin2pignouin2pinggouin1pingoiun2pingouinn1pingouni2pinguoin2pinngouin1
Edit distance from "pingouin"

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 "pingouin"?
"pingouin" is spelled P-I-N-G-O-U-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \pɛ̃.ɡwɛ̃\.
What does "pingouin" mean?
As a noun, "pingouin" means: Oiseau palmipède piscivore membre de la famille des alcidés des océans de l’hémisphère nord.
What words are commonly confused with "pingouin"?
"pingouin" is commonly confused with "pingouins". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pingouin"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pingouin" is \pɛ̃.ɡwɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pingouin" come from?
"pingouin" 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 "pingouin", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

omission#23,968prémices#23,995purifier#23,999méconnue#23,949

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

Problem11 variantsmordant11 variantsrepêché11 variantsresterai11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list