polka

\pɔl.ka\

/\pɔl.ka\/ noun

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

The verdict

“polka” is uncommon French (frequency #52,906 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,906
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Danse de salon d’origine tchèque ou polonaise.

Corpus desk

Index FR-polka · polka · French

polka · rank #52,906 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,906
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH PLM

Nearest frequency peer: PLM (-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 « polka »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for polka
PropertyValue
Headwordpolka
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɔl.ka\
Letters5
Frequency rank#52,906
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « polka » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.polkatombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « PLM » (#52,905), « Pollet » (#52,907), « plannings » (#52,904). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « polka » est au #52,906. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

polka is uncommon French at frequency #52,906 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \pɔl.ka\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for polka, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, 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 polka, spelled P-O-L-K-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Danse de salon d’origine tchèque ou polonaise.
  2. 2
    Musique à deux temps sur laquelle on exécute cette danse.
  3. 3
    Coiffe traditionnelle portée en Bretagne.
  4. 4
    Marteau de tailleur de pierre à deux taillants opposés, l’un parallèle au manche, l’autre perpendiculaire.
  5. 5
    Brouette utilisée dans les champignonnières.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La polka est quelque chose de très gracieux qui aurait fort scandalisé nos aïeules.
  2. Ces dames dansèrent. Les polkas, les valses, les mazurkas, alternèrent avec les quadrilles.

This word in other languages

polka(English)polca(Español)Polka(Deutsch)polca(Português)

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 "polka"?
"polka" is spelled P-O-L-K-A. The IPA pronunciation is \pɔl.ka\.
What does "polka" mean?
As a noun, "polka" means: Danse de salon d’origine tchèque ou polonaise.
How do you pronounce "polka"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "polka" is \pɔl.ka\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "polka" come from?
"polka" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "polka", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

ponta#52,910potos#52,912reply#52,948nanti#52,861

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list