ratchet

\ˈɹæt.ʃɪt\

/\ˈɹæt.ʃɪt\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“ratchet” is uncommon French (frequency #60,323 among 5,742 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#60,323
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Clé à cliquet, cliquet.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ratchet · ratchet · French

ratchet · rank #60,323 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #60,323
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH ravier

Nearest frequency peer: ravier (+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 « ratchet »

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 « ratchet » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ratchet
PropertyValue
Headwordratchet
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ˈɹæt.ʃɪt\
Letters7
Frequency rank#60,323
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « ratchet » en français

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

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « ravier » (#60,324), « rappellerait » (#60,321), « rayées » (#60,325). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « ratchet » est au #60,323. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ratchet is uncommon French at frequency #60,323 among 5,742 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ˈɹæt.ʃɪt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ratchet, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is ratchet, spelled R-A-T-C-H-E-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Clé à cliquet, cliquet.
  2. 2
    Rochet.

Synonyms

socket wrench

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 "ratchet"?
"ratchet" is spelled R-A-T-C-H-E-T. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈɹæt.ʃɪt\.
What does "ratchet" mean?
As a noun, "ratchet" means: Clé à cliquet, cliquet.
How do you pronounce "ratchet"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ratchet" is \ˈɹæt.ʃɪt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ratchet" come from?
"ratchet" 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 "ratchet", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Redding#60,331quintet#60,312relègue#60,335pénates#60,308

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list