plomb
\plɔ̃\
The verdict
“plomb” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #5,484 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,484
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 14
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Élément chimique de symbole Pb et de numéro atomique 82; il appartient à la série chimique des métaux pauvres.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | plomb |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \plɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #5,484 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 14 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “plomb” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for plomb is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \plɔ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #5,484 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for plomb, with forms such as "lpomb", "pllomb", and "plmob". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 14 confusable-pair relationships, "pom", "plon", "plot", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is plomb, spelled P-L-O-M-B.
Definition
- 1Élément chimique de symbole Pb et de numéro atomique 82; il appartient à la série chimique des métaux pauvres.
- 2Corps simple métallique de cet élément d’un blanc bleuâtre, très mou.
- 3Balles, lingots ou petits grains de plomb qu’on emploie à la chasse, pour charger les armes à feu.
- 4Composition même.
- 5Petit sceau de plomb que, dans les douanes, on attache aux ballots, caisses, etc., pour attester qu’ils ont payé les droits, ou pour empêcher qu’ils ne soient ouverts avant d’être arrivés au lieu de leur destination.
- 6Morceau de plomb, ou d’autre métal, suspendu au fil à plomb dont les maçons, les charpentiers, etc., se servent pour élever leurs ouvrages verticalement. Fil à plomb.
- 7, Fusible, fil de plomb intercalé dans une installation électrique de manière à éviter, par sa fusion, en cas de court-circuit, des accidents plus graves.
- 8Cuvettes, ordinairement de plomb, établies aux différents étages d’une maison, pour y jeter les eaux sales.
- 9Acide sulfhydrique qui se dégage des fosses d’aisances et des puits.
- 10Intoxication causée par les émanations des fosses d’aisances.
- 11Accessoire en plomb, de formes diverses, utilisé pour lester une ligne ou un engin de pêche en général.
- 12Accessoire en plomb, utilisé pour lester un plongeur.
- 13Symbole de ce qui est lourd et opaque. → voir chaleur de plomb, soleil de plomb et sommeil de plomb
- 14Maladie cryptogamique des arbres fruitiers, due à Chondrostereum purpureum, elle donne une couleur gris plombé aux feuilles.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lpomb,pllomb,plmob,plobm,plombb,plommb,polmb,pplomb
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of plomb - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "plomb"?
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Using “plomb”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-L-O-M-B - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \plɔ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pom” - see the side-by-side comparison. plomb vs pom
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.