small

\smɔːl\

/\smɔːl\/ adj

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

The verdict

“small” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #17,818. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#17,818
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Petit.

Corpus desk

Index FR-small · small · French

small · rank #17,818 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #17,818
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH simuler

Nearest frequency peer: simuler (-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 « small »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « small » 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).

small vs smart
60% similar
small vs still
60% similar
small vs smash
60% similar

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

Key facts for small
PropertyValue
Headwordsmall
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\smɔːl\
Letters5
Frequency rank#17,818
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « small »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).smallse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « simuler » (#17,817), « snapchat » (#17,819), « simplifié » (#17,816). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « small » est au #17,818. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around small (IPA \smɔːl\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #17,818 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Petit.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for small, with forms such as "msall", "samll", and "smal". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "smart", "still", "smash", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is small, spelled S-M-A-L-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Petit.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Show that the energy lost per revolution is small compared to the electron’s kinetic energy.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • msall
  • samll
  • smal
  • smlal
  • smmall
  • ssmall

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

msall2samll2smal1smlal2smmall1ssmall1
Edit distance from "small"

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 "small"?
"small" is spelled S-M-A-L-L. The IPA pronunciation is \smɔːl\.
What does "small" mean?
As an adjective, "small" means: Petit.
What words are commonly confused with "small"?
"small" is commonly confused with "smart", "still", "smash". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "small"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "small" is \smɔːl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "small" come from?
"small" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "small", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

split#17,825rênes#17,810still#17,827sugar#17,831

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

pures6 variantspriez6 variantsvoyou6 variantsopium6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list