whale

\ˈweɪ̯l\

/\ˈweɪ̯l\/ noun

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

The verdict

“whale” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #48,266. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#48,266
frequency rank, French
549
“W” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
15
confusable pairs

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

Corpus desk

Index FR-whale · whale · French

whale · rank #48,266 · 7 variants · 15 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #48,266
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 15 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 549
  • PHOTO-FINISH whatever

Nearest frequency peer: whatever (+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 « whale »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « whale » 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).

whale vs what
60% similar
whale vs white
60% similar
whale vs where
60% similar

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

Key facts for whale
PropertyValue
Headwordwhale
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ˈweɪ̯l\
Letters5
Frequency rank#48,266
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs15
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « whale »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.whalese place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « whatever » (#48,267), « Weinberg » (#48,264), « whirlpool » (#48,268). Parmi 549 lemmes en « W », « whale » est au #48,266. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around whale (IPA \ˈweɪ̯l\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #48,266 among 549 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for whale, with forms such as "hwale", "wahle", and "whael". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 15 confusable-pair relationships, "what", "white", "where", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is whale, spelled W-H-A-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Baleine, cétacé.
  2. 2
    Quelque chose d’impressionnant en raison de sa taille.
  3. 3
    Haut placé dans une entreprise.
  4. 4
    Personne investissant, dans un casino ou jeu vidéo, beaucoup plus d’argent que la plupart des autres joueurs.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Researchers studying the level of mercury concentration of whales in the Caribbean were shocked to see dangerously high levels of the toxic substance in whale products sold for human consumption.
  2. One amino acid, a whale of a difference

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hwale
  • wahle
  • whael
  • whalle
  • whhale
  • whlae
  • wwhale

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

hwale2wahle2whael2whalle1whhale1whlae2wwhale1
Edit distance from "whale"

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 "whale"?
"whale" is spelled W-H-A-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈweɪ̯l\.
What does "whale" mean?
As a noun, "whale" means: Baleine, cétacé.
What words are commonly confused with "whale"?
"whale" is commonly confused with "what", "white", "where". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "whale"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "whale" is \ˈweɪ̯l\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "whale" come from?
"whale" 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 "whale", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Yahya#48,270varia#48,251users#48,248ténue#48,245

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

trapu7 variantstools7 variantsadouci7 variantsTarik7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list