surveille

\syʁ.vɛj\

/\syʁ.vɛj\/ noun

The verdict

“surveille” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #10,416 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#10,416
frequency rank, French
9
letters
11
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Avant-veille, le jour qui précède immédiatement la veille. Il est peu usité : on dit plutôt avant-veille.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

surveille vs surveiller
90% similar
surveille vs surveillée
90% similar
surveille vs surveillés
80% similar

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

Key facts for surveille
PropertyValue
Headwordsurveille
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\syʁ.vɛj\
Letters9
Frequency rank#10,416
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “surveille” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). surveille lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for surveille is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \syʁ.vɛj\. Corpus data places it at rank #10,416 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Avant-veille, le jour qui précède immédiatement la veille. Il est peu usité : on dit plutôt avant-veille.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for surveille, with forms such as "sruveille", "ssurveille", and "sureville". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "surveiller", "surveillée", "surveillés", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is surveille, spelled S-U-R-V-E-I-L-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Avant-veille, le jour qui précède immédiatement la veille. Il est peu usité : on dit plutôt avant-veille.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: sruveille,ssurveille,sureville,surrveille,surveile,surveilel,survelile,survielle,survveille,suvreille,usrveille

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

sruveille2ssurveille1sureville2surrveille1surveile1surveilel2survelile2survielle2
Edit distance from "surveille"

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 "surveille"?
"surveille" is spelled S-U-R-V-E-I-L-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \syʁ.vɛj\.
What does "surveille" mean?
As a noun, "surveille" means: Avant-veille, le jour qui précède immédiatement la veille. Il est peu usité : on dit plutôt avant-veille.
What words are commonly confused with "surveille"?
"surveille" is commonly confused with "surveiller", "surveillée", "surveillés". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "surveille"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "surveille" is \syʁ.vɛj\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "surveille" come from?
"surveille" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Using “surveille”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is S-U-R-V-E-I-L-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \syʁ.vɛj\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “surveiller” - see the side-by-side comparison. surveille vs surveiller
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list