successful
\səkˈsɛs.fəl\
The verdict
“successful” is uncommon French (frequency #84,341 among 394,209 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #84,341
- frequency rank, French
- 394,209
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ayant du succès, marqué de succès, couronné de succès.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | successful |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \səkˈsɛs.fəl\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #84,341 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “successful” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
successful is uncommon French at frequency #84,341 among 394,209 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \səkˈsɛs.fəl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for successful, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is successful, spelled S-U-C-C-E-S-S-F-U-L.
Definition
- 1Ayant du succès, marqué de succès, couronné de succès.
- 2Réussissant, brillant, prospère, réussi.
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
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Using “successful”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is S-U-C-C-E-S-S-F-U-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \səkˈsɛs.fəl\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Other uncommon French words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.