ravage

\ʁa.vaʒ\

/\ʁa.vaʒ\/ noun

The verdict

“ravage” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #25,467 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#25,467
frequency rank, French
6
letters
8
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Action de ravager.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ravage vs rave
67% similar
ravage vs ravie
67% similar
ravage vs rivage
83% similar

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

Key facts for ravage
PropertyValue
Headwordravage
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʁa.vaʒ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#25,467
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “ravage” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). ravage lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for ravage is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʁa.vaʒ\. Corpus data places it at rank #25,467 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for ravage, with forms such as "arvage", "raavge", and "ravaeg". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "rave", "ravie", "rivage", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is ravage, spelled R-A-V-A-G-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Action de ravager.
  2. 2
    Dommage, dégât fait avec violence et rapidité.
  3. 3
    Dommages que causent les tempêtes, les orages, les pluies, les vents, les guerres, etc. ou même les maladies.
  4. 4
    Désordre que les passions causent.
  5. 5
    Endroit où les cerfs se regroupent pour affronter les rigueurs de l’hiver.
  6. 6
    Travail, industrie du ravageur (chiffonnier).

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: arvage,raavge,ravaeg,ravagge,ravgae,ravvage,rravage,rvaage

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ravage - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

arvage2raavge2ravaeg2ravagge1ravgae2ravvage1rravage1rvaage2
Edit distance from "ravage"

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 "ravage"?
"ravage" is spelled R-A-V-A-G-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁa.vaʒ\.
What does "ravage" mean?
As a noun, "ravage" means: Action de ravager.
What words are commonly confused with "ravage"?
"ravage" is commonly confused with "rave", "ravie", "rivage". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ravage"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ravage" is \ʁa.vaʒ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ravage" come from?
"ravage" 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.

Using “ravage”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is R-A-V-A-G-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ʁa.vaʒ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “rave” - see the side-by-side comparison. ravage vs rave
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list