proverbe

\pʁɔ.vɛʁb\

/\pʁɔ.vɛʁb\/ noun

The verdict

“proverbe” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #14,334. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#14,334
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sorte de sentence, de maxime exprimée en peu de mots et devenue d’usage commun.

Corpus desk

Index FR-proverbe · proverbe · French

proverbe · rank #14,334 · 12 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #14,334
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH propager

Nearest frequency peer: propager (-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 « proverbe »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « proverbe » 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).

proverbe vs proverbes
89% similar
proverbe vs proféré
50% similar
proverbe vs Provence
63% similar

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

Key facts for proverbe
PropertyValue
Headwordproverbe
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pʁɔ.vɛʁb\
Letters8
Frequency rank#14,334
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « proverbe »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).proverbese 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 « propager » (#14,333), « provinciales » (#14,335), « profondeurs » (#14,332). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « proverbe » est au #14,334. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around proverbe (IPA \pʁɔ.vɛʁb\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #14,334 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for proverbe, with forms such as "porverbe", "pproverbe", and "proevrbe". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "proverbes", "proféré", "Provence", 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 proverbe, spelled P-R-O-V-E-R-B-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sorte de sentence, de maxime exprimée en peu de mots et devenue d’usage commun.
  2. 2
    Livre qui contient ces maximes
  3. 3
    Sorte de petite comédie qui se joue en société et qui met en action un proverbe.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Mes enfants, les proverbes que vous voyez au mur de cette classe correspondaient peut-être jadis à une réalité disparue. … si bien qu'à notre époque, le mépris des proverbes c'est le commencement de la fortune...
  2. Ainsi, on peut tirer deux conclusions du proverbe : « mieux vaut laisser son enfant morveux que lui arracher le nez » : la saleté du nez chez un enfant n'est pas très réprouvable ; donc, deuxième conclusion, on peut généraliser cette évidence à d'autres domaines de l'éducation.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • porverbe
  • pproverbe
  • proevrbe
  • provebre
  • proverbbe
  • provereb
  • proverrbe
  • provrebe
  • provverbe
  • prroverbe
  • prvoerbe
  • rpoverbe

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

porverbe2pproverbe1proevrbe2provebre2proverbbe1provereb2proverrbe1provrebe2
Edit distance from "proverbe"

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 "proverbe"?
"proverbe" is spelled P-R-O-V-E-R-B-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁɔ.vɛʁb\.
What does "proverbe" mean?
As a noun, "proverbe" means: Sorte de sentence, de maxime exprimée en peu de mots et devenue d’usage commun.
What words are commonly confused with "proverbe"?
"proverbe" is commonly confused with "proverbes", "proféré", "Provence". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "proverbe"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "proverbe" is \pʁɔ.vɛʁb\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "proverbe" come from?
"proverbe" 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 "proverbe", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list