scale
\skal\
The verdict
“scale” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #43,661 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #43,661
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de scaler.
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 | scale |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \skal\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #43,661 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “scale” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for scale is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \skal\. Corpus data places it at rank #43,661 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 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 scale, with forms such as "csale", "sacle", and "scael". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "scie", "scan", "sole", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is scale, spelled S-C-A-L-E.
Definition
- 1Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de scaler.
- 2Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de scaler.
- 3Première personne du singulier du subjonctif présent de scaler.
- 4Troisième personne du singulier du subjonctif présent de scaler.
- 5Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de scaler.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csale,sacle,scael,scalle,sccale,sclae,sscale
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of scale - 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.
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
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Using “scale”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is S-C-A-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \skal\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “scie” - see the side-by-side comparison. scale vs scie
- 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.