Which to use
“agiles” is an adjective and “argile” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,140
- “agiles” frequency rank
- #10,991
- “argile” frequency rank
- 50131
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | agiles | argile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de agile. | Minéral se présentant sous la forme d’une poudre souvent très fine. Avec de l’eau elle forme une terre douce au toucher, malléable et plastique → voir minéral argileux. Elle est composée principalement de silicates et d’aluminosilicates. Elle est généralement blanchâtre, mais peut être teintée par des sels métalliques (rouge, orange, vert, etc.). |
Where the eye mixes agiles and argile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. agiles (VCVCVC) and argile (VCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses agiles with argile
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: agiles is \a.ʒil\ while argile is \aʁ.ʒil\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
agiles is recorded at frequency rank #39,140, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.ʒil\. argile is at rank #10,991, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aʁ.ʒil\.
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 50131, this pair ranks #165,076 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of agiles vs argile
Shared letters: aegil. Private to "agiles": s. Private to "argile": r.
"agiles" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "argile" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "agiles" for "argile" ever safe?
Which is more common, "agiles" or "argile"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "agiles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "argile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #165,076 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "agiles" and "argile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "agiles vs agitées". 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 #165,076 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.