signal

\si.ɲal\

/\si.ɲal\/ noun

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

The verdict

“signal” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #3,801. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,801
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
18
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Signe servant d’avertissement.

Corpus desk

Index FR-signal · signal · French

signal · rank #3,801 · 9 variants · 18 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,801
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 18 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH sauter

Nearest frequency peer: sauter (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « signal »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « signal » 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).

signal vs signe
67% similar
signal vs Sinaï
50% similar
signal vs signer
67% similar

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

Key facts for signal
PropertyValue
Headwordsignal
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\si.ɲal\
Letters6
Frequency rank#3,801
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs18
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « signal »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).signalse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « sauter » (#3,800), « sièges » (#3,802), « sortent » (#3,803). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « signal » est au #3,801. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around signal (IPA \si.ɲal\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,801 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for signal, with forms such as "isgnal", "sginal", and "siganl". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "signe", "Sinaï", "signer", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is signal, spelled S-I-G-N-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Signe servant d’avertissement.
  2. 2
    Bâtisse qui sert à relever des visées géodésique, etc.
  3. 3
    Ce qui annonce et provoque une chose.
  4. 4
    Information.
  5. 5
    Appareil destiné à commander ou à annoncer certaines manœuvres.
  6. 6
    Phénomène physique qui véhicule une information.
  7. 7
    Moyen de communication entre les processus.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Deux petites cabanes apparurent sur le Cap Tobin, et le soleil, frappant dans les carreaux d’une fenêtre, nous fit croire un instant à des signaux lumineux […]
  2. Enfin, vers midi, une balancelle, montée par des corailleurs espagnols, aperçut nos signaux et la fumée de nos feux ; elle s’approcha et nous jeta un sac de biscuits de mer, du pain et du tabac, puis cingla vers Oran pour annoncer notre naufrage.

Antonyms

IPCtube

This word in other languages

signal(English)señal(Español)Signal(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • isgnal
  • sginal
  • siganl
  • siggnal
  • signall
  • signla
  • signnal
  • singal
  • ssignal

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

isgnal2sginal2siganl2siggnal1signall1signla2signnal1singal2
Edit distance from "signal"

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 "signal"?
"signal" is spelled S-I-G-N-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \si.ɲal\.
What does "signal" mean?
As a noun, "signal" means: Signe servant d’avertissement.
What words are commonly confused with "signal"?
"signal" is commonly confused with "signe", "Sinaï", "signer". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "signal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "signal" is \si.ɲal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "signal" come from?
"signal" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "signal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sauter#3,800sièges#3,802réunis#3,798pseudo#3,793

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Thierry9 variantsprière9 variantsvolant9 variantsparlez9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list