playoff

\ple.ɔf\

/\ple.ɔf\/ noun

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

The verdict

“playoff” is uncommon French (frequency #70,113 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#70,113
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Type de compétition qui se déroule à la fin d'une saison, et qui sert à désigner un champion.

Corpus desk

Index FR-playoff · playoff · French

playoff · rank #70,113 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #70,113
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH placid

Nearest frequency peer: placid (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « playoff »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « playoff » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for playoff
PropertyValue
Headwordplayoff
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ple.ɔf\
Letters7
Frequency rank#70,113
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « playoff » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).playofftombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « placid » (#70,112), « pluriannuelle » (#70,115), « piétonnière » (#70,110). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « playoff » est au #70,113. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

playoff is uncommon French at frequency #70,113 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ple.ɔf\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Type de compétition qui se déroule à la fin d'une saison, et qui sert à désigner un champion.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for playoff, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is playoff, spelled P-L-A-Y-O-F-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    Type de compétition qui se déroule à la fin d'une saison, et qui sert à désigner un champion.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Mais les hommes de Dury peuvent encore espérer accrocher la 5ᵉ place des playoffs, synonyme de Coupe d’Europe si Gand s’impose, remporte la Coupe de Belgique et finit 3e.

Synonyms

poule finale

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 "playoff"?
"playoff" is spelled P-L-A-Y-O-F-F. The IPA pronunciation is \ple.ɔf\.
What does "playoff" mean?
As a noun, "playoff" means: Type de compétition qui se déroule à la fin d'une saison, et qui sert à désigner un champion.
How do you pronounce "playoff"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "playoff" is \ple.ɔf\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "playoff" come from?
"playoff" 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 "playoff", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Piccard#70,107poltron#70,120phocéen#70,105pesants#70,101

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list