Which to use
“ail” is a noun and “aillent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,426
- “ail” frequency rank
- #13,955
- “aillent” frequency rank
- 23381
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ail | aillent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Troisième personne du pluriel du subjonctif présent du verbe aller. |
Same sound, different letters: ail vs aillent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. ail runs 3 letters (VVC) against aillent's 7 (VVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - ail / aillent
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ail and aillent carry the same recorded pronunciation, \aj\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 4 extra letter(s) - “ail” sits inside “aillent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ail is recorded at frequency rank #9,426, classified as anoun, pronounced \aj\. aillent is at rank #13,955, 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 23381, this pair ranks #352,816 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ail vs aillent
Shared letters: ail. Private to "ail": -. Private to "aillent": ent.
"ail" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "aillent" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- aillent ← ailelnt · ailent · aillennt · aillentt · ailletn · aillnet · alilent · iallent
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ail" for "aillent" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "ail" or "aillent" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "ail" / "aillent". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "ail" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aillent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #352,816 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ail" and "aillent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aillent vs avalent". 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 #352,816 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.