top

\tɔp\

/\tɔp\/ noun

The verdict

“top” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,241) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,241
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Le meilleur.

Corpus desk

Index FR-top · top · French

top · rank #1,241 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,241
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH totalement

Nearest frequency peer: totalement (+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.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « top »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « top » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

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).

top vs tu
33% similar
top vs TV
0% similar
top vs TS
0% similar

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

Key facts for top
PropertyValue
Headwordtop
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tɔp\
Letters3
Frequency rank#1,241
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « top »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).topse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « totalement » (#1,242), « secret » (#1,239), « usage » (#1,243). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « top » est au #1,241. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for top is neighbouring look-alikes ("tu", "TV", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \tɔp\. Frequency #1,241 among 3,703 “T” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for top, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tu", "TV", "TS", 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 any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is top, spelled T-O-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    Le meilleur.
  2. 2
    (Généralement suivi d'un nombre indiquant le nombre d'éléments considérés) Regroupement des meilleurs concurrents selon un classement
  3. 3
    Haut, débardeur, habit qui couvre le haut du corps.
  4. 4
    Maximum.
  5. 5
    Top model.
  6. 6
    Sorte de bruit aigu pour indiquer l'heure exacte.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. […] c'est ainsi que ce fatras de producteurs, nageurs, dentistes, agents immobiliers, juristes de studios (de cinéma), pourvoyeurs de coke, marchands d'automobile-z-allemandes, exilés au soleil, voyaient le top de l'Éducation supérieure : Harvard Business School pour les affaires, Harvard School of Law pour le droit, Harvard University pour les indécis.
  2. Pour les gens de ma génération, Platini, c'est le top du top. Platinix. Celui qui arrivait avec sa potion magique pour nous qualifier dans les matchs décisifs.

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 "top"?
"top" is spelled T-O-P. The IPA pronunciation is \tɔp\.
What does "top" mean?
As a noun, "top" means: Le meilleur.
What words are commonly confused with "top"?
"top" is commonly confused with "tu", "TV", "TS". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "top"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "top" is \tɔp\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "top" come from?
"top" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "top", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list