tournesol

\tuʁ.nə.sɔl\

/\tuʁ.nə.sɔl\/ noun

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

The verdict

“tournesol” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #22,441. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#22,441
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Espèce d’hélianthe à très grandes fleurs, dont les graines oléagineuses sont utilisées dans l’alimentation et les fleurs comme ornement, de nom scientifique Helianthus annuus.

Corpus desk

Index FR-tournesol · tournesol · French

tournesol · rank #22,441 · 13 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #22,441
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH Tor

Nearest frequency peer: Tor (-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 « tournesol »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « tournesol » 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).

tournesol vs tournés
67% similar

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

Key facts for tournesol
PropertyValue
Headwordtournesol
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tuʁ.nə.sɔl\
Letters9
Frequency rank#22,441
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « tournesol »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).tournesolse 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 « Tor » (#22,440), « toy » (#22,442), « Timothy » (#22,439). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « tournesol » est au #22,441. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around tournesol (IPA \tuʁ.nə.sɔl\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #22,441 among 3,703 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for tournesol, with forms such as "oturnesol", "torunesol", and "tounresol". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "tournés", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is tournesol, spelled T-O-U-R-N-E-S-O-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Espèce d’hélianthe à très grandes fleurs, dont les graines oléagineuses sont utilisées dans l’alimentation et les fleurs comme ornement, de nom scientifique Helianthus annuus.
  2. 2
    Héliotrope commun, héliotrope d’Europe.
  3. 3
    Teinture de tournesol, pigment bleu obtenu à partir de divers lichens.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le tournesol est surtout cultivé pour ses graines oléagineuses ; une variété, le soleil uniflore ou soleil de Russie, est particulièrement intéressante, surtout la variété à graines blanches.
  2. Originaire du Mexique, le Tournesol a été introduit en Ukraine vers le milieu du XVIIᵉ siècle à titre de plante ornementale.

Synonyms

soleilgrand soleilgrand-soleilgraine de perroquethélianthe annuelfleur de soleilcouronne de soleilsoleil des jardinstournesoleil

This word in other languages

litmus(English)girasol(Español)Sonnenblume(Deutsch)girassol(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • oturnesol
  • torunesol
  • tounresol
  • tourensol
  • tourneosl
  • tourneslo
  • tournesoll
  • tournessol
  • tournnesol
  • tournseol
  • tourrnesol
  • ttournesol
  • tuornesol

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tournesol - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

oturnesol2torunesol2tounresol2tourensol2tourneosl2tourneslo2tournesoll1tournessol1
Edit distance from "tournesol"

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 "tournesol"?
"tournesol" is spelled T-O-U-R-N-E-S-O-L. The IPA pronunciation is \tuʁ.nə.sɔl\.
What does "tournesol" mean?
As a noun, "tournesol" means: Espèce d’hélianthe à très grandes fleurs, dont les graines oléagineuses sont utilisées dans l’alimentation et les fleurs comme ornement, de nom scientifique Helianthus annuus.
What words are commonly confused with "tournesol"?
"tournesol" is commonly confused with "tournés". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "tournesol"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tournesol" is \tuʁ.nə.sɔl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tournesol" come from?
"tournesol" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "tournesol", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

traduites#22,443templiers#22,434suscitent#22,427spaghetti#22,421

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

tchèques13 variantséclatent13 variantsémissaires13 variantsévidents13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list