terrible
\tɛ.ʁibl\
The verdict
“terrible” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #2,496 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #2,496
- frequency rank, French
- 8
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui cause de la terreur ; qui est propre à donner de la terreur.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | terrible |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \tɛ.ʁibl\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #2,496 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “terrible” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for terrible is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tɛ.ʁibl\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,496 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for terrible, with forms such as "etrrible", "terible", and "terirble". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "terrine", "terribles", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is terrible, spelled T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1Qui cause de la terreur ; qui est propre à donner de la terreur.
- 2Qui est extraordinaire, fort violent, excessif.
- 3Qui est insupportable ou désagréable
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: etrrible,terible,terirble,terrbile,terribble,terribel,terriblle,terrilbe,trerible,tterrible
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of terrible - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “terrible”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \tɛ.ʁibl\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “terrine” - see the side-by-side comparison. terrible vs terrine
- 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.