prélude

/\pʁe.lyd\/ noun

Letters

7 characters

Frequency Rank

#18,570

in French word usage

Misspellings

11

tracked variants

Confusables

5

similar word pairs

prélude is aFrenchnoun. It means: Ce qui précède quelque chose et qui lui sert comme d’entrée et de préparation. Pronounced \pʁe.lyd\. Often confused with prude and preuve.

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)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for prélude is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pʁe.lyd\. Corpus data places it at rank #18,570 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for prélude, with forms such as "pprélude", "prelude", and "prléude". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "prude", "preuve", "prévue", 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 prélude, spelled P-R-É-L-U-D-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

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.

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

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for prélude

Misspelling Variants of "prélude"

pprélude8prelude7prléude7prrélude8préldue7préllude8préludde8prélued7
Misspelling Variants of "prélude"

Frequency rank: #18,570 in French

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.

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.