plier

\pli.je\

/\pli.je\/ verb

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

The verdict

“plier” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #9,215. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#9,215
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mettre en double une ou plusieurs fois, en parlant du linge, des étoffes, du papier, etc.

Corpus desk

Index FR-plier · plier · French

plier · rank #9,215 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #9,215
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH ping

Nearest frequency peer: ping (-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 « plier »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « plier » 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).

plier vs prié
40% similar
plier vs plis
60% similar
plier vs puer
60% similar

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

Key facts for plier
PropertyValue
Headwordplier
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pli.je\
Letters5
Frequency rank#9,215
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « plier »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).plierse 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 « ping » (#9,214), « poison » (#9,216), « perdues » (#9,213). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « plier » est au #9,215. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around plier (IPA \pli.je\), averb. Corpus frequency is #9,215 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 12 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for plier, with forms such as "lpier", "piler", and "pleir". 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, "prié", "plis", "puer", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is plier, spelled P-L-I-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mettre en double une ou plusieurs fois, en parlant du linge, des étoffes, du papier, etc.
  2. 2
    Rabattre l’une sur l’autre les parties d’un objet.
  3. 3
    Courber, fléchir.
  4. 4
    Assujettir, soumettre, faire céder, accoutumer.
  5. 5
    Amener la tête du cheval en dedans ou en dehors, afin de lui rendre l’encolure souple et de lui donner de la facilité dans les épaules.
  6. 6
    Terminer.
  7. 7
    Emballer, empaqueter.
  8. 8
    Ranger.
  9. 9
    Devenir courbé.
  10. 10
    Être surchargé d’affaires, être accablé par l’âge.
  11. 11
    Céder ; se soumettre.
  12. 12
    Reculer en parlant des troupes qui reculent dans un combat.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Plier des vêtements, des draps de lit, des serviettes.
  2. Plier des feuilles imprimées.

Antonyms

déplier

This word in other languages

fold(English)doblar(Español)falten(Deutsch)dobrar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • lpier
  • piler
  • pleir
  • plierr
  • plire
  • pllier
  • pplier

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

lpier2piler2pleir2plierr1plire2pllier1pplier1
Edit distance from "plier"

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 "plier"?
"plier" is spelled P-L-I-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pli.je\.
What does "plier" mean?
As a verb, "plier" means: Mettre en double une ou plusieurs fois, en parlant du linge, des étoffes, du papier, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "plier"?
"plier" is commonly confused with "prié", "plis", "puer". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "plier"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "plier" is \pli.je\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "plier" come from?
"plier" 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 "plier", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

pairs#9,209noyer#9,204mêler#9,203rails#9,229

Similar misspelling depth

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

poison7 variantsMurray7 variantsloger7 variantslitre7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list