spatule

\spa.tyl\

/\spa.tyl\/ noun

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

The verdict

“spatule” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #41,544. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#41,544
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
7
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Baguette de bois, de métal, d’ivoire, etc., élargie et aplatie à un bout, dont on se sert en pharmacie et en chimie.

Corpus desk

Index FR-spatule · spatule · French

spatule · rank #41,544 · 10 variants · 7 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #41,544
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH sournoise

Nearest frequency peer: sournoise (-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 « spatule »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « spatule » 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).

spatule vs statue
71% similar
spatule vs stature
71% similar
spatule vs saule
71% similar

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

Key facts for spatule
PropertyValue
Headwordspatule
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\spa.tyl\
Letters7
Frequency rank#41,544
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « spatule »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).spatulese 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 « sournoise » (#41,543), « Springsteen » (#41,546), « sollicitées » (#41,541). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « spatule » est au #41,544. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around spatule (IPA \spa.tyl\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #41,544 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for spatule, with forms such as "psatule", "saptule", and "spatlue". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "statue", "stature", "saule", 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 any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is spatule, spelled S-P-A-T-U-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Baguette de bois, de métal, d’ivoire, etc., élargie et aplatie à un bout, dont on se sert en pharmacie et en chimie.
  2. 2
    Instruments analogues, dont se servent les sculpteurs pour modeler la cire et les autres matières plastiques, les maçons pour rejointoyer, etc.
  3. 3
    Maryse, instrument de cuisine qui sert à racler le fond des récipients.
  4. 4
    Terme parfois utilisé pour un abaisse-langue.
  5. 5
    Forme qui s’élargit à l’extrémité.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Étendre de l’onguent avec la spatule.
  2. […] sa figure beurrée, molle, coupée des rides profondes que fait la spatule du temps.

Synonyms

lécheusemaryse

This word in other languages

spatula(English)espátula(Español)Spatel(Deutsch)espátula(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • psatule
  • saptule
  • spatlue
  • spattule
  • spatuel
  • spatulle
  • spautle
  • sppatule
  • sptaule
  • sspatule

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of spatule - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

psatule2saptule2spatlue2spattule1spatuel2spatulle1spautle2sppatule1
Edit distance from "spatule"

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 "spatule"?
"spatule" is spelled S-P-A-T-U-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \spa.tyl\.
What does "spatule" mean?
As a noun, "spatule" means: Baguette de bois, de métal, d’ivoire, etc., élargie et aplatie à un bout, dont on se sert en pharmacie et en chimie.
What words are commonly confused with "spatule"?
"spatule" is commonly confused with "statue", "stature", "saule". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "spatule"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "spatule" is \spa.tyl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "spatule" come from?
"spatule" 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 "spatule", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

squatte#41,547smileys#41,540supplié#41,555sautait#41,529

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

sucettes10 variantstaliban10 variantstourneur10 variantsvariety10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list