file

\fil\

/\fil\/ noun

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

The verdict

“file” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #3,678) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#3,678
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Suite ou rangée de choses ou de personnes disposées en long et l’une derrière l’autre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-file · file · French

file · rank #3,678 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,678
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH fleuve

Nearest frequency peer: fleuve (+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.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « file »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « file » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

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).

file vs FL
0% similar
file vs fin
50% similar
file vs fit
50% similar

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

Key facts for file
PropertyValue
Headwordfile
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\fil\
Letters4
Frequency rank#3,678
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « file »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).filese 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 « fleuve » (#3,679), « ferai » (#3,676), « Gras » (#3,680). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « file » est au #3,678. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for file is neighbouring look-alikes ("FL", "fin", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \fil\. Frequency #3,678 among 3,276 “F” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for file, with forms such as "ffile", "flie", and "ifle". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "FL", "fin", "fit", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is file, spelled F-I-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Suite ou rangée de choses ou de personnes disposées en long et l’une derrière l’autre.
  2. 2
    Suite ou rangée de choses ou de personnes disposées en long et l’une derrière l’autre.
  3. 3
    Ligne de soldats disposés les uns derrière les autres.
  4. 4
    Celui qui vient le premier dans une hiérarchie, qui est à la tête d’une entreprise, etc.
  5. 5
    Vaisseau qui est le premier de la ligne de bataille.
  6. 6
    Type abstrait de données séquentielles en FIFO, c’est-à-dire où le premier élément accessible est le premier à avoir été ajouté.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Sous une voûte de grands chênes, sous une feuillée touffue, on montait, on montait, par des chemins en zigzags, toute la famille à la file et à pied, formant serpent, comme ces pèlerins qui se rendent à des abbayes solitaires sur des cimes, dans les dessins moyen âge de Gustave Doré.
  2. J'ai donc repris la file des passants qui s'engageaient dans une des rues aboutissantes et nous avançâmes par saccades […]

Synonyms

queue

This word in other languages

line(English)fila(Español)Schlange(Deutsch)fila(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ffile
  • flie
  • ifle

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ffile1flie2ifle2
Edit distance from "file"

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 "file"?
"file" is spelled F-I-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \fil\.
What does "file" mean?
As a noun, "file" means: Suite ou rangée de choses ou de personnes disposées en long et l’une derrière l’autre.
What words are commonly confused with "file"?
"file" is commonly confused with "FL", "fin", "fit". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "file"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "file" is \fil\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "file" come from?
"file" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "file", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Gras#3,680vend#3,720open#3,628déçu#3,752

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list