Which to use
“aiguillage” and “aiguille” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,634
- “aiguillage” frequency rank
- #7,929
- “aiguille” frequency rank
- 49563
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aiguillage | aiguille |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de faire passer un convoi sur une autre voie. | Petite tige de métal fine, pointue à un bout et équipée d’un trou appelé chas à l’autre bout pour y passer un fil. Elle est utilisée pour coudre, pour broder, pour faire de la tapisserie, etc. |
Where the eye mixes aiguillage and aiguille
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between aiguillage and aiguille
A purely visual mix-up. aiguillage (\e.ɡɥi.jaʒ\) and aiguille (\e.ɡɥij\) 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 49563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aiguillage is recorded at frequency rank #41,634, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ɡɥi.jaʒ\. aiguille is at rank #7,929, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.ɡɥij\.
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 49563, this pair ranks #169,611 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of aiguillage vs aiguille
Shared letters: aegilu. Private to "aiguillage": -. Private to "aiguille": -.
"aiguillage" · 10 letters · shape VVCVVCCVCV · "aiguille" · 8 letters · shape VVCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- aiguillage ← agiuillage · aigguillage · aigiullage · aiguilage · aiguilalge · aiguillaeg · aiguillagge · aiguillgae
- aiguille ← agiuille · aigguille · aigiulle · aiguile · aiguilel · aigulile · aiugille · iaguille
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "aiguillage" for "aiguille" ever safe?
Which is more common, "aiguillage" or "aiguille"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "aiguillage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aiguille" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #169,611 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aiguillage" and "aiguille" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aiguille vs aiguiller". 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 #169,611 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.