subway

\ˈsʌb.ˌweɪ\

/\ˈsʌb.ˌweɪ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“subway” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #29,555. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#29,555
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Métro (moyen de transport).

Corpus desk

Index FR-subway · subway · French

subway · rank #29,555 · 9 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #29,555
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH subdivision

Nearest frequency peer: subdivision (-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 « subway »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « subway » 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).

subway vs Sunday
50% similar

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

Key facts for subway
PropertyValue
Headwordsubway
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ˈsʌb.ˌweɪ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#29,555
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « subway »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).subwayse 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 « subdivision » (#29,554), « succédant » (#29,556), « stylistique » (#29,553). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « subway » est au #29,555. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around subway (IPA \ˈsʌb.ˌweɪ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #29,555 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for subway, with forms such as "sbuway", "ssubway", and "subawy". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Sunday", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is subway, spelled S-U-B-W-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Métro (moyen de transport).
  2. 2
    Passage piétons souterrain.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I think I can take the subway to the airport. Do you know where the subway is? Sure, it's over there.
  2. Walk through the subway to get to the other side of the road.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • sbuway
  • ssubway
  • subawy
  • subbway
  • subwayy
  • subwway
  • subwya
  • suwbay
  • usbway

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of subway - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

sbuway2ssubway1subawy2subbway1subwayy1subwway1subwya2suwbay2
Edit distance from "subway"

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 "subway"?
"subway" is spelled S-U-B-W-A-Y. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈsʌb.ˌweɪ\.
What does "subway" mean?
As a noun, "subway" means: Métro (moyen de transport).
What words are commonly confused with "subway"?
"subway" is commonly confused with "Sunday". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "subway"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "subway" is \ˈsʌb.ˌweɪ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "subway" come from?
"subway" 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 "subway", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

speech#29,548tapait#29,562soyeux#29,547sonate#29,544

Similar misspelling depth

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

Senlis9 variantstracas9 variantstribun9 variantsécluse9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list