pioche

\pjɔʃ\

/\pjɔʃ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“pioche” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #20,236. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#20,236
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
14
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Outil composé d'un fer emmanché, à une pointe d'un côté et un tranchant de l'autre, ou, à deux pointes.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pioche · pioche · French

pioche · rank #20,236 · 8 variants · 14 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #20,236
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 14 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH pierce

Nearest frequency peer: pierce (-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 « pioche »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « pioche » 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).

pioche vs poche
83% similar
pioche vs pitch
67% similar
pioche vs proche
83% similar

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

Key facts for pioche
PropertyValue
Headwordpioche
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pjɔʃ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#20,236
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs14
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « pioche »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.piochese place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « pierce » (#20,235), « PJ » (#20,237), « physiologique » (#20,234). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pioche » est au #20,236. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around pioche (IPA \pjɔʃ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #20,236 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for pioche, with forms such as "ipoche", "picohe", and "piocche". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 14 confusable-pair relationships, "poche", "pitch", "proche", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is pioche, spelled P-I-O-C-H-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Outil composé d'un fer emmanché, à une pointe d'un côté et un tranchant de l'autre, ou, à deux pointes.
  2. 2
    Outil servant à l’excavation, au creusement et au tranchage.
  3. 3
    Marteau à deux fers pointus.
  4. 4
    Réserve d’éléments dans laquelle on se sert sans façon.
  5. 5
    Tas de cartes, ensemble de jetons, tickets ou pièces dans lequel on va tirer au hasard.
  6. 6
    Choix heureux ou malheureux.
  7. 7
    Meuble représentant l’outil du même nom dans les armoiries. Elle est généralement représentée en pal. Son fer est pointu d’un côté et plat de l’autre et courbé avec un manche long et centré par rapport au fer. Il est vers le chef, pointe à dextre. Si son manche est d'un émail particulier, on la dit emmanchée. À rapprocher de pic de mineur, piolet et pointerolle de mineur.
  8. 8
    Travail pénible, assidu et long. → voir se mettre à la pioche

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Dumouriez le félicita et lui renouvela l'ordre de rendre la trouée de Noirval impraticable. Les paysans y vinrent avec des haches, des bêches et des pioches, creusèrent des tranchées et coupèrent les ponts de la Fournelle.
  2. Si le sou n’est pas là, le trésor y est, répondit-il ; et, au lieu de rire, tu ferais mieux d’aller chercher ma bêche et ma pioche.

Synonyms

houepic

This word in other languages

pick(English)zapapico(Español)Spitzhacke(Deutsch)picareta(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ipoche
  • picohe
  • piocche
  • pioceh
  • piochhe
  • piohce
  • poiche
  • ppioche

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ipoche2picohe2piocche1pioceh2piochhe1piohce2poiche2ppioche1
Edit distance from "pioche"

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 "pioche"?
"pioche" is spelled P-I-O-C-H-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pjɔʃ\.
What does "pioche" mean?
As a noun, "pioche" means: Outil composé d'un fer emmanché, à une pointe d'un côté et un tranchant de l'autre, ou, à deux pointes.
What words are commonly confused with "pioche"?
"pioche" is commonly confused with "poche", "pitch", "proche". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pioche"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pioche" is \pjɔʃ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pioche" come from?
"pioche" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "pioche", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pierce#20,235patois#20,230potion#20,243onglet#20,219

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

noyade8 variantsNevada8 variantsnausée8 variantsnageur8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list