talc

\talk\

/\talk\/ noun

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

The verdict

“talc” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #43,688. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#43,688
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Minéral composé de silicate de magnésium doublement hydroxylé de la famille des phyllosilicates.

Corpus desk

Index FR-talc · talc · French

talc · rank #43,688 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #43,688
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH sévissent

Nearest frequency peer: sévissent (-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 « talc »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « talc » 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).

talc vs Tl
25% similar
talc vs TC
0% similar
talc vs tas
50% similar

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

Key facts for talc
PropertyValue
Headwordtalc
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\talk\
Letters4
Frequency rank#43,688
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « talc »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).talcse 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 « sévissent » (#43,687), « tares » (#43,689), « targuer » (#43,690). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « talc » est au #43,688. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around talc (IPA \talk\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #43,688 among 3,703 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for talc, with forms such as "atlc", "tacl", and "talcc". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Tl", "TC", "tas", and more, 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 best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is talc, spelled T-A-L-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    Minéral composé de silicate de magnésium doublement hydroxylé de la famille des phyllosilicates.
  2. 2
    Ce minéral une fois réduit en une poudre impalpable. Il est utilisé dans l'industrie, en cosmétologie, comme excipient pharmaceutique pour des topiques, et en hygiène personnelle.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. J’ai suivi, pour l’analyse de cette variété de talc, les mêmes procédés que pour la précédente; ainsi je n’entrerai dans aucun détail à cet égard.
  2. L’amiante, classé cancérogène depuis les années 1970, peut se retrouver à proximité lorsque le talc est extrait des mines.

Synonyms

agaliteagalmatolitecolubrinekérolitelapis specularislarditemussoliniteollitestéatite

This word in other languages

talc(English)talco(Español)Talk(Deutsch)talco(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • atlc
  • tacl
  • talcc
  • tallc
  • tlac
  • ttalc

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

atlc2tacl2talcc1tallc1tlac2ttalc1
Edit distance from "talc"

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 "talc"?
"talc" is spelled T-A-L-C. The IPA pronunciation is \talk\.
What does "talc" mean?
As a noun, "talc" means: Minéral composé de silicate de magnésium doublement hydroxylé de la famille des phyllosilicates.
What words are commonly confused with "talc"?
"talc" is commonly confused with "Tl", "TC", "tas". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "talc"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "talc" is \talk\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "talc" come from?
"talc" 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 "talc", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

tiki#43,698saké#43,653Zion#43,740rank#43,626

Similar misspelling depth

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

tares6 variantstears6 variantsSuzie6 variantstroue6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list