winch

\win(t)ʃ\

/\win(t)ʃ\/ noun

The verdict

“winch” is uncommon French (frequency #54,334 among 549 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,334
frequency rank, French
549
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Équipement fixe placé sur le pont d’un voilier qui permet de démultiplier la traction exercée par l’équipage sur les cordages (écoute, drisse, bras de spinnaker) utilisés pour contrôler la voilure.

Corpus desk

Index FR-winch · winch · French

winch · rank #54,334 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #54,334
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 549
  • PHOTO-FINISH Wessex

Nearest frequency peer: Wessex (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « winch »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « winch » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for winch
PropertyValue
Headwordwinch
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\win(t)ʃ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#54,334
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « winch » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.winchtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « Wessex » (#54,333), « wir » (#54,335), « vérifions » (#54,332). Parmi 549 lemmes en « W », « winch » est au #54,334. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

winch is uncommon French at frequency #54,334 among 549 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \win(t)ʃ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for winch in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is winch, spelled W-I-N-C-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    Équipement fixe placé sur le pont d’un voilier qui permet de démultiplier la traction exercée par l’équipage sur les cordages (écoute, drisse, bras de spinnaker) utilisés pour contrôler la voilure.
  2. 2
    Treuil.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. « Quand je te le dirai, tu tireras sur la corde pour monter la grande voile », ou encore « tu pourras resserrer le winch avec la manivelle ».
  2. Je préfère choquer et border. Je suis plus à l’aise avec les winchs.

This word in other languages

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 "winch"?
"winch" is spelled W-I-N-C-H. The IPA pronunciation is \win(t)ʃ\.
What does "winch" mean?
As a noun, "winch" means: Équipement fixe placé sur le pont d’un voilier qui permet de démultiplier la traction exercée par l’équipage sur les cordages (écoute, drisse, bras de spinnaker) utilisés pour contrôler la voilure.
How do you pronounce "winch"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "winch" is \win(t)ʃ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "winch" come from?
"winch" 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 "winch", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list