ridicule

\ʁi.di.kyl\

/\ʁi.di.kyl\/ adj

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

The verdict

“ridicule” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #2,736. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,736
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est digne de risée ou de moquerie.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ridicule · ridicule · French

ridicule · rank #2,736 · 11 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,736
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH remis

Nearest frequency peer: remis (-2 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 « ridicule »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « ridicule » 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).

ridicule vs ridicules
89% similar
ridicule vs ridiculisé
70% similar
ridicule vs radicale
75% similar

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

Key facts for ridicule
PropertyValue
Headwordridicule
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ʁi.di.kyl\
Letters8
Frequency rank#2,736
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « ridicule »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).ridiculese 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 « remis » (#2,734), « secondaire » (#2,738), « quart » (#2,733). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « ridicule » est au #2,736. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around ridicule (IPA \ʁi.di.kyl\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #2,736 among 5,742 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for ridicule, with forms such as "irdicule", "rdiicule", and "ridciule". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "ridicules", "ridiculisé", "radicale", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

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 ridicule, spelled R-I-D-I-C-U-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est digne de risée ou de moquerie.
  2. 2
    Qui va à l’encontre du bon sens ou de la normalité.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il a toujours méprisé les vanteries ridicules dont il arrive assez ordinairement que la noblesse étourdit le monde.
  2. Cette gentillesse qui abrégeait les formes et supprimait les fadaises ridicules que tout garçon se croit tenu de débiter à la belle fille dont il essaie de faire sa maîtresse, m’avait séduit.

Synonyms

risible

This word in other languages

ridiculous(English)ridículo(Español)lächerlich(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • irdicule
  • rdiicule
  • ridciule
  • riddicule
  • ridiccule
  • ridiclue
  • ridicuel
  • ridiculle
  • ridiucle
  • riidcule
  • rridicule

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ridicule - 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.

irdicule2rdiicule2ridciule2riddicule1ridiccule1ridiclue2ridicuel2ridiculle1
Edit distance from "ridicule"

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 "ridicule"?
"ridicule" is spelled R-I-D-I-C-U-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁi.di.kyl\.
What does "ridicule" mean?
As an adjective, "ridicule" means: Qui est digne de risée ou de moquerie.
What words are commonly confused with "ridicule"?
"ridicule" is commonly confused with "ridicules", "ridiculisé", "radicale". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ridicule"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ridicule" is \ʁi.di.kyl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ridicule" come from?
"ridicule" 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 "ridicule", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

échanges#2,750individu#2,720feuilles#2,717attaques#2,756

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

portent11 variantsexperts11 variantsemployé11 variantscoupable11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list