Which to use
“aigle” and “ail” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,110
- “aigle” frequency rank
- #9,426
- “ail” frequency rank
- 18536
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aigle | ail |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Oiseau de proie rapace diurne à la vue perçante, au bec crochu à bords tranchants et aux pattes puissantes munies de serres pour saisir leurs proies. Il trompète ou glatit lorsqu’il pousse son cri. | Espèce de plante à bulbe de la famille des liliacées (classification classique) ou des amaryllidacées (classification phylogénétique) à bulbe composé de plusieurs petites gousses réunies sous une enveloppe commune, utilisé en cuisine, d’une odeur et d’un goût très fort et piquant dû notamment à des composés de soufre. |
Where the eye mixes aigle and ail
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between aigle and ail
A purely visual mix-up. aigle (\ɛɡl\) and ail (\aj\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aigle is recorded at frequency rank #9,110, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛɡl\. ail is at rank #9,426, tagged as anoun, 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 18536, this pair ranks #377,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of aigle vs ail
Shared letters: ail. Private to "aigle": eg. Private to "ail": -.
"aigle" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV · "ail" · 3 letters · shape VVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- aigle ← aigel · aiggle · aiglle · ailge · iagle
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "aigle" for "ail" ever safe?
Frequency check: "aigle" vs "ail" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "aigle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ail" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #377,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aigle" and "ail" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ail vs aur". 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 #377,812 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.