railroad

\ˈɹeɪl.ˌɹoʊd\

/\ˈɹeɪl.ˌɹoʊd\/ noun

The verdict

“railroad” is uncommon French (frequency #56,855 among 5,742 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,855
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Chemin de fer.

Corpus desk

Index FR-railroad · railroad · French

railroad · rank #56,855 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #56,855
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH radiologue

Nearest frequency peer: radiologue (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « railroad »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « railroad » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for railroad
PropertyValue
Headwordrailroad
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ˈɹeɪl.ˌɹoʊd\
Letters8
Frequency rank#56,855
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « railroad » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.railroadtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « radiologue » (#56,854), « rapporteure » (#56,857), « rapprochera » (#56,858). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « railroad » est au #56,855. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

railroad is uncommon French at frequency #56,855 among 5,742 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ˈɹeɪl.ˌɹoʊd\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for railroad in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is railroad, spelled R-A-I-L-R-O-A-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Chemin de fer.
  2. 2
    Définition manquante ou à compléter. (Ajouter).

Synonyms

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 "railroad"?
"railroad" is spelled R-A-I-L-R-O-A-D. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈɹeɪl.ˌɹoʊd\.
What does "railroad" mean?
As a noun, "railroad" means: Chemin de fer.
How do you pronounce "railroad"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "railroad" is \ˈɹeɪl.ˌɹoʊd\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "railroad" come from?
"railroad" 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 "railroad", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list