prélude

\pʁe.lyd\

/\pʁe.lyd\/ noun

The verdict

“prélude” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #18,570. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,570
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ce qui précède quelque chose et qui lui sert comme d’entrée et de préparation.

Corpus desk

Index FR-prelude · prélude · French

prélude · rank #18,570 · 11 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,570
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH préhistoire

Nearest frequency peer: préhistoire (-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 « prélude »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « prélude » 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).

prélude vs prude
71% similar
prélude vs preuve
57% similar
prélude vs prévue
71% similar

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

Key facts for prélude
PropertyValue
Headwordprélude
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pʁe.lyd\
Letters7
Frequency rank#18,570
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « prélude »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).préludese 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 « préhistoire » (#18,569), « prévaloir » (#18,571), « prospectus » (#18,568). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « prélude » est au #18,570. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around prélude (IPA \pʁe.lyd\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,570 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for prélude, with forms such as "pprélude", "prelude", and "prléude". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "prude", "preuve", "prévue", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is prélude, spelled P-R-É-L-U-D-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ce qui précède quelque chose et qui lui sert comme d’entrée et de préparation.
  2. 2
    Ce qu’on improvise sur un instrument pour se mettre dans le ton.
  3. 3
    Certaines compositions musicales qui forment le début d’une œuvre.
  4. 4
    Pièces qui constituent à elles seules un tout.
  5. 5
    Verrouillage de l'accès à une ressource critique.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Pendant cette même journée du 10, qui était le prélude de la grande bataille du lendemain, l’ennemi avait continué ses attaques sur le 21ᵉ corps.
  2. S’attendant à la paire de claques, prélude de la raclée, l’avant-bras déjà presque levé pour la parade habituelle, Camus en demeura un instant muet de stupéfaction.

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • pprélude
  • prelude
  • prléude
  • prrélude
  • préldue
  • préllude
  • préludde
  • prélued
  • préulde
  • pérlude
  • rpélude

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of prélude - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

pprélude1prelude1prléude2prrélude1préldue2préllude1préludde1prélued2
Edit distance from "prélude"

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 "prélude"?
"prélude" is spelled P-R-É-L-U-D-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁe.lyd\.
What does "prélude" mean?
As a noun, "prélude" means: Ce qui précède quelque chose et qui lui sert comme d’entrée et de préparation.
What words are commonly confused with "prélude"?
"prélude" is commonly confused with "prude", "preuve", "prévue". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "prélude"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prélude" is \pʁe.lyd\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prélude" come from?
"prélude" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "prélude", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list