principaux

\pʁɛ̃.si.po\

/\pʁɛ̃.si.po\/ adj

The verdict

“principaux” has 15 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #1,714. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,714
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
15
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Masculin pluriel de principal.

Corpus desk

Index FR-principaux · principaux · French

principaux · rank #1,714 · 15 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,714
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 15 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH pourrais

Nearest frequency peer: pourrais (-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 « principaux »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « principaux » 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).

principaux vs principal
80% similar
principaux vs principale
80% similar
principaux vs principauté
82% similar

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

Key facts for principaux
PropertyValue
Headwordprincipaux
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\pʁɛ̃.si.po\
Letters10
Frequency rank#1,714
Misspellings tracked15
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « principaux »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).principauxse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « pourrais » (#1,713), « préparer » (#1,715), « permettant » (#1,711). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « principaux » est au #1,714. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 15 spelling variants around principaux (IPA \pʁɛ̃.si.po\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #1,714 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Masculin pluriel de principal.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for principaux, with forms such as "pirncipaux", "pprincipaux", and "pricnipaux". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "principal", "principale", "principauté", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is principaux, spelled P-R-I-N-C-I-P-A-U-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    Masculin pluriel de principal.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il suffit, dit ce savant chirurgien, d’énoncer les principaux arguments de cette régénération des chairs pour en finir avec une théorie que personne ne soutient aujourd’hui.
  2. Appliqué contre la face externe de la branche du maxillaire inférieur, le masséter est court, large et très-épais, aplati d’un côté à l’autre, de forme irrégulièrement quadrilatère, formé de plans superposés dont deux principaux, qui sont parfaitement distincts, près de l’articulation temporo-maxillaire, par la direction un peu différente de leurs fibres.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • pirncipaux
  • pprincipaux
  • pricnipaux
  • princcipaux
  • princiapux
  • principauxx
  • principaxu
  • princippaux
  • principuax
  • princpiaux
  • prinicpaux
  • prinncipaux
  • prnicipaux
  • prrincipaux
  • rpincipaux

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

pirncipaux2pprincipaux1pricnipaux2princcipaux1princiapux2principauxx1principaxu2princippaux1
Edit distance from "principaux"

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 "principaux"?
"principaux" is spelled P-R-I-N-C-I-P-A-U-X. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁɛ̃.si.po\.
What does "principaux" mean?
As an adjective, "principaux" means: Masculin pluriel de principal.
What words are commonly confused with "principaux"?
"principaux" is commonly confused with "principal", "principale", "principauté". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "principaux"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "principaux" is \pʁɛ̃.si.po\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "principaux" come from?
"principaux" 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 "principaux", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (15 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list