poteau

\pɔ.to\

/\pɔ.to\/ noun

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

The verdict

“poteau” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #7,218. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,218
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
12
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pièce de bois de charpente, posée debout.

Corpus desk

Index FR-poteau · poteau · French

poteau · rank #7,218 · 7 variants · 12 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,218
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH potable

Nearest frequency peer: potable (-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 « poteau »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « poteau » 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).

poteau vs potes
67% similar
poteau vs préau
50% similar
poteau vs puceau
67% similar

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

Key facts for poteau
PropertyValue
Headwordpoteau
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɔ.to\
Letters6
Frequency rank#7,218
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « poteau »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.poteause 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 « potable » (#7,217), « poursuites » (#7,219), « poétique » (#7,220). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « poteau » est au #7,218. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around poteau (IPA \pɔ.to\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,218 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for poteau, with forms such as "opteau", "poetau", and "potaeu". 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 12 confusable-pair relationships, "potes", "préau", "puceau", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, 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 poteau, spelled P-O-T-E-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pièce de bois de charpente, posée debout.
  2. 2
    Grosse et longue pièce de bois posée droit en terre et servant à divers usages.
  3. 3
    Haute pièce de bois ou de fer, généralement surmontée d’un disque, qui marque le terme d’une course.
  4. 4
    Une des deux pièces verticales du cadre d'un filet, notamment au hockey ou au football/soccer.
  5. 5
    Coup au but frappant un des poteaux du filet au lieu d’entrer dans le but.
  6. 6
    Les poteaux : Le but, dans certains sports comme le hockey ou le football/soccer.
  7. 7
    Compagnon d'affaire ou de loisir ; pote.
  8. 8
    Ellipse de poteau d'exécution.
  9. 9
    Personne de confiance qui informe les travailleurs de rue sur ce qui se passe dans la rue.
  10. 10
    Candidat poteau : Personne mise en candidature dans une circonscription où on sait qu’elle n’a pratiquement aucune chance d’être élue, uniquement pour veiller à ce que le parti ait un candidat dans cette circonscription.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Des moises doubles J pinçaient ce poteau D, reposaient sur la longrine F, mordaient les trois poteaux G, H, I, celui G étant appuyé sur le parement incliné du merlon, et venaient saisir le poteau postérieur K également incliné.
  2. Soudain, le monstre de la guillotine nous regarda avec ses deux poteaux noirs et le couperet suspendu.

Synonyms

poteau d'arrivée

This word in other languages

stake(English)poste(Español)Pfeiler(Deutsch)mourão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • opteau
  • poetau
  • potaeu
  • poteua
  • potteau
  • ppoteau
  • ptoeau

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

opteau2poetau2potaeu2poteua2potteau1ppoteau1ptoeau2
Edit distance from "poteau"

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 "poteau"?
"poteau" is spelled P-O-T-E-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is \pɔ.to\.
What does "poteau" mean?
As a noun, "poteau" means: Pièce de bois de charpente, posée debout.
What words are commonly confused with "poteau"?
"poteau" is commonly confused with "potes", "préau", "puceau". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "poteau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "poteau" is \pɔ.to\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "poteau" come from?
"poteau" 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 "poteau", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mortes#7,207remède#7,232little#7,202rigole#7,234

Similar misspelling depth

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

Ironie7 variantsgains7 variantscloud7 variantsbrune7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list