rabat
\ʁa.ba\
The verdict
“rabat” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #10,389 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #10,389
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Col, partie du vêtement rabattue vers le bas.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rabat |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ʁa.ba\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #10,389 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rabat” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for rabat is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʁa.ba\. Corpus data places it at rank #10,389 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for rabat, with forms such as "arbat", "raabt", and "rabatt". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "rat", "rama", "raja", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is rabat, spelled R-A-B-A-T.
Definition
- 1Col, partie du vêtement rabattue vers le bas.
- 2Col de toile, garni ou non de dentelles, qui laissait le cou des hommes découvert.
- 3Col du costume ecclésiastique consistant en un morceau de toile noire divisé en deux portions oblongues, bordées de blanc, qui se rabattait sur le devant.
- 4Pièce de batiste, de dentelle, etc., qui fait office de cravate dans le costume officiel des magistrats, des avocats, des membres de l’université, etc.
- 5Action de rabattre le gibier.
- 6Pièce de plâtre mince couvrant la largeur du manteau d'une cheminée.
- 7Sable fin servant à polir le marbre.
- 8Action du polissage du marbre avec ce sable fin.
- 9Nom donné à la terre des plats non vernis dont la cuisson a été manquée.
- 10Partie souple d'un objet, repliable.
- 11Volet rabattable d'un objet.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: arbat,raabt,rabatt,rabbat,rabta,rbaat,rrabat
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of rabat - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "rabat"?
What does "rabat" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "rabat"?
How do you pronounce "rabat"?
What language does "rabat" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “rabat”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is R-A-B-A-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ʁa.ba\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “rat” - see the side-by-side comparison. rabat vs rat
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.