polenta

\pɔ.lɛn.ta\

/\pɔ.lɛn.ta\/ noun

The verdict

“polenta” is uncommon French (frequency #57,511 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,511
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Bouillie de farine de maïs, notamment en usage en Italie.

Corpus desk

Index FR-polenta · polenta · French

polenta · rank #57,511 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,511
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH poissonnier

Nearest frequency peer: poissonnier (-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 « polenta »

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 « polenta » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for polenta
PropertyValue
Headwordpolenta
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɔ.lɛn.ta\
Letters7
Frequency rank#57,511
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « polenta » en français

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « poissonnier » (#57,510), « politisés » (#57,512), « pointées » (#57,509). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « polenta » est au #57,511. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

polenta is uncommon French at frequency #57,511 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \pɔ.lɛn.ta\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Bouillie de farine de maïs, notamment en usage en Italie.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for polenta in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is polenta, spelled P-O-L-E-N-T-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Bouillie de farine de maïs, notamment en usage en Italie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Notre troupe bruyante est accourue sur la place St-Marc, de l’hôtellerie du signor Arlecchino, qui nous avait tous conviés à un régal de macarons à l’huile et de polenta à l’ail.
  2. Des charbonniers lucquois nous font une place à leur feu ; puis un berger indigène, une espèce de sauvage tout habillé de peau de bouc, nous invite à venir manger la polenta dans sa cabane.

This word in other languages

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 "polenta"?
"polenta" is spelled P-O-L-E-N-T-A. The IPA pronunciation is \pɔ.lɛn.ta\.
What does "polenta" mean?
As a noun, "polenta" means: Bouillie de farine de maïs, notamment en usage en Italie.
How do you pronounce "polenta"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "polenta" is \pɔ.lɛn.ta\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "polenta" come from?
"polenta" 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 "polenta", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list