plomb

/\plɔ̃\/ noun

Letters

5 characters

Frequency Rank

#5,484

in French word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

14

similar word pairs

plomb is aFrenchnoun. It means: Élément chimique de symbole Pb et de numéro atomique 82; il appartient à la série chimique des métaux pauvres. Pronounced \plɔ̃\. It ranks #5,484 in French word frequency. Often confused with pom and plon.

Key facts for plomb
PropertyValue
Headwordplomb
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\plɔ̃\
Letters5
Frequency rank#5,484
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs14
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of plomb in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for plomb is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, 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 Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for plomb, with forms such as "lpomb", "pllomb", and "plmob". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, 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.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is plomb, spelled P-L-O-M-B, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Élément chimique de symbole Pb et de numéro atomique 82; il appartient à la série chimique des métaux pauvres.
  2. 2
    Corps simple métallique de cet élément d’un blanc bleuâtre, très mou.
  3. 3
    Balles, lingots ou petits grains de plomb qu’on emploie à la chasse, pour charger les armes à feu.
  4. 4
    Composition même.
  5. 5
    Petit 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.
  6. 6
    Morceau 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. 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.
  8. 8
    Cuvettes, ordinairement de plomb, établies aux différents étages d’une maison, pour y jeter les eaux sales.
  9. 9
    Acide sulfhydrique qui se dégage des fosses d’aisances et des puits.
  10. 10
    Intoxication causée par les émanations des fosses d’aisances.
  11. 11
    Accessoire en plomb, de formes diverses, utilisé pour lester une ligne ou un engin de pêche en général.
  12. 12
    Accessoire en plomb, utilisé pour lester un plongeur.
  13. 13
    Symbole de ce qui est lourd et opaque. → voir chaleur de plomb, soleil de plomb et sommeil de plomb
  14. 14
    Maladie cryptogamique des arbres fruitiers, due à Chondrostereum purpureum, elle donne une couleur gris plombé aux feuilles.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: lpomb,pllomb,plmob,plobm,plombb,plommb,polmb,pplomb

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for plomb

Misspelling Variants of "plomb"

lpomb5pllomb6plmob5plobm5plombb6plommb6polmb5pplomb6
Misspelling Variants of "plomb"

Frequency rank: #5,484 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "plomb"?
"plomb" is spelled P-L-O-M-B. The IPA pronunciation is \plɔ̃\.
What does "plomb" mean?
As a noun, "plomb" means: Élément chimique de symbole Pb et de numéro atomique 82; il appartient à la série chimique des métaux pauvres.
What words are commonly confused with "plomb"?
"plomb" is commonly confused with "pom", "plon", "plot". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "plomb"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "plomb" is \plɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "plomb" come from?
"plomb" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter P in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.