simple

/\sɛ̃pl\/ adj

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#457

in French word usage

Misspellings

9

tracked variants

Confusables

18

similar word pairs

simple is anFrenchadj. It means: Qui n’est pas composé. Pronounced \sɛ̃pl\. It ranks #457 in French word frequency. Often confused with smile and single.

Key facts for simple
PropertyValue
Headwordsimple
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdj
IPA\sɛ̃pl\
Letters6
Frequency rank#457
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs18
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of simple in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for simple is 6 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \sɛ̃pl\. Corpus data places it at rank #457 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for simple, with forms such as "ismple", "simlpe", and "simmple". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "smile", "single", "souple", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is simple, spelled S-I-M-P-L-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui n’est pas composé.
  2. 2
    Qui n’est pas compliqué.
  3. 3
    Qui n’est pas multiple.
  4. 4
    Qui est modeste.
  5. 5
    Qui est facile à comprendre, à faire, à employer.
  6. 6
    Qui agit selon ses sentiments, avec une honnêteté naturelle et une droiture spontanée.
  7. 7
    Qui ignore ou refuse le faste, les complications, les vanités et les formalités.
  8. 8
    Qui agit avec naturel, sans orgueil, sans prétention.
  9. 9
    (Vers 1165) Qui a peu de culture, de finesse, d’intelligence, qui se laisse facilement tromper.
  10. 10
    Qui est d’un rang peu élevé, de condition sociale modeste.
  11. 11
    Qui est sans ornement sans recherche, sans affectation
  12. 12
    Qui se conjugue sans auxiliaire.
  13. 13
    Sans malice, qui se laisse facilement tromper.
  14. 14
    Qui se suffit à lui seul.

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ismple,simlpe,simmple,simpel,simplle,simpple,sipmle,smiple,ssimple

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for simple

Misspelling Variants of "simple"

ismple6simlpe6simmple7simpel6simplle7simpple7sipmle6smiple6
Misspelling Variants of "simple"

Frequency rank: #457 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "simple"?
"simple" is spelled S-I-M-P-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \sɛ̃pl\.
What does "simple" mean?
As an adj, "simple" means: Qui n’est pas composé.
What words are commonly confused with "simple"?
"simple" is commonly confused with "smile", "single", "souple". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "simple"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "simple" is \sɛ̃pl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "simple" come from?
"simple" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter S in our French index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.