aiglevsailéWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: aigle is a noun, ailé is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aigle” is a noun and “ailé” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,110
“aigle” frequency rank
#38,126
“ailé” frequency rank
47236
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aigle ailé
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. Qui possède des ailes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set aigle and ailé apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
aigle
4 ch
ailé

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aigle is \ɛɡl\ while ailé is \ɛ.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47236, 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\. ailé is at rank #38,126, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ.le\.

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 47236, this pair ranks #188,473 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aigle vs ailé

Shared letters: ail. Private to "aigle": eg. Private to "ailé": é.

"aigle" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV  ·  "ailé" · 4 letters · shape VVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aigleaigel · aiggle · aiglle · ailge · iagle

Frequency comparison

aigle#9,110
ailé#38,126

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aigle" and "ailé" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aigle" is a noun and "ailé" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "aigle" or "ailé"?
"aigle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,110 in our French list, against #38,126 for "ailé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering aigle vs ailé

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “aigle”; for an adjective, it's “ailé”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “aigle” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list