Which to use
“abeilles” is a noun and “ailles” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,923
- “abeilles” frequency rank
- #25,192
- “ailles” frequency rank
- 33115
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abeilles | ailles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de abeille. | Deuxième personne du singulier du subjonctif présent du verbe aller. |
Where the eye mixes abeilles and ailles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. abeilles runs 8 letters (VCVVCCVC) against ailles's 6 (VVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: abeilles vs ailles
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abeilles is \a.bɛj\ while ailles is \aj\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abeilles is recorded at frequency rank #7,923, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.bɛj\. ailles is at rank #25,192, tagged as averb, pronounced \aj\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 33115, this pair ranks #292,758 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of abeilles vs ailles
Shared letters: aeils. Private to "abeilles": b. Private to "ailles": -.
"abeilles" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC · "ailles" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "abeilles" and "ailles" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "abeilles" or "ailles" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "abeilles" and "ailles" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "abeilles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ailles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #292,758 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abeilles" and "ailles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ailles vs ainés". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #292,758 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.