Français homophones

joli/jolie/jolies/jolis/Joly

"joli" is an adjective; "Joly" is a name - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #101 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "joli" arrives as an adjective, while "Joly" is a name. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "joli" then splits - "joli" (4 letters) vs "jolie" (5).
Shared stem "joli" then splits - "joli" (4 letters) vs "jolies" (6).
Shared stem "joli" then splits - "joli" (4 letters) vs "jolis" (5).
Single-letter fork: "joli" keeps i, "Joly" writes y at letter 4.
Shared stem "jolie" then splits - "jolie" (5 letters) vs "jolies" (6).
Single-letter fork: "jolie" keeps e, "jolis" writes s at letter 5.
Shared stem "jol" then splits - "jolie" (5 letters) vs "Joly" (4).
Shared stem "joli" then splits - "jolies" (6 letters) vs "jolis" (5).
Shared stem "jol" then splits - "jolies" (6 letters) vs "Joly" (4).
Shared stem "jol" then splits - "jolis" (5 letters) vs "Joly" (4).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across joli, jolie, jolies, jolis, Joly: jlo. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

joli
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCV
Inventory ijlo · private i
jolie
5 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVCVV
Inventory eijlo · private ei
jolies
6 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVCVVC
Inventory eijlos · private eis
jolis
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCVC
Inventory ijlos · private is
Joly
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCV
Inventory jloy · private y

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "joli" when you mean: Qui a de la grâce, de l’agrément.
Write "jolie" when you mean: Féminin singulier de joli.
Write "jolies" when you mean: Féminin pluriel de joli.
Write "jolis" when you mean: Masculin pluriel de joli.
Write "Joly" when you mean: Nom de famille.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

joli ← jjoli · jloi · joil · jolli · ojli
jolie ← jjolie · jloie · joile · jolei · jollie · ojlie
jolies ← jjolies · jloies · joiles · joleis · joliess · jolise
jolis ← jjolis · jlois · joils · joliss · jollis · jolsi
Joly ← jjoly · jloy · jolyy · joyl · ojly

Each spelling

joli

adjective · /\ʒɔ.li\/ · #2,426 frequency

Qui a de la grâce, de l’agrément.

jolie

adjective · /\ʒɔ.li\/ · #1,872 frequency

Féminin singulier de joli.

jolies

adjective · /\ʒɔ.li\/ · #6,408 frequency

Féminin pluriel de joli.

jolis

adjective · /\ʒɔ.li\/ · #10,182 frequency

Masculin pluriel de joli.

Joly

name · /\ʒɔ.li\/ · #14,495 frequency

Nom de famille.