wilaya

\vi.la.ja\

/\vi.la.ja\/ noun

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

The verdict

“wilaya” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #25,525. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#25,525
frequency rank, French
549
“W” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Division administrative qui existe dans plusieurs pays africains et asiatiques.

Corpus desk

Index FR-wilaya · wilaya · French

wilaya · rank #25,525 · 8 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #25,525
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 549
  • PHOTO-FINISH vénézuélien

Nearest frequency peer: vénézuélien (-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 « wilaya »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « wilaya » 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).

wilaya vs Willy
50% similar

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

Key facts for wilaya
PropertyValue
Headwordwilaya
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\vi.la.ja\
Letters6
Frequency rank#25,525
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « wilaya »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.wilayase 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 « vénézuélien » (#25,524), « Wilhelm » (#25,526), « Vincenzo » (#25,523). Parmi 549 lemmes en « W », « wilaya » est au #25,525. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around wilaya (IPA \vi.la.ja\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #25,525 among 549 “W” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Division administrative qui existe dans plusieurs pays africains et asiatiques.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for wilaya, with forms such as "iwlaya", "wialya", and "wilaay". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Willy", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is wilaya, spelled W-I-L-A-Y-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Division administrative qui existe dans plusieurs pays africains et asiatiques.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Cette lettre destinée à Si Belaïd, chef du Conseil de la zone III de la Wilaya IV, saisie sur le cadavre d’un rebelle, atteste de l’efficacité militaire et politique du combat engagé par les groupes d’autodéfense.
  2. Abane Ramdane voulait maintenir la primauté des politiques sur les militaires et des wilayas de l’intérieur sur l’armée des frontières, ce dont les colonels de l’ALN ne voulaient pour rien au monde.

Synonyms

vilayetdépartementprovincerégion

This word in other languages

wilayah(English)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • iwlaya
  • wialya
  • wilaay
  • wilayya
  • willaya
  • wilyaa
  • wliaya
  • wwilaya

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

iwlaya2wialya2wilaay2wilayya1willaya1wilyaa2wliaya2wwilaya1
Edit distance from "wilaya"

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 "wilaya"?
"wilaya" is spelled W-I-L-A-Y-A. The IPA pronunciation is \vi.la.ja\.
What does "wilaya" mean?
As a noun, "wilaya" means: Division administrative qui existe dans plusieurs pays africains et asiatiques.
What words are commonly confused with "wilaya"?
"wilaya" is commonly confused with "Willy". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "wilaya"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wilaya" is \vi.la.ja\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wilaya" come from?
"wilaya" 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 "wilaya", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

unifié#25,520triage#25,515abonde#25,537agency#25,541

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

abbayes8 variantsSétif8 variantssonnait8 variantssavane8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list