ailvsasileConfusable pair

Which to use

“ail” and “asile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,426
“ail” frequency rank
#5,007
“asile” frequency rank
14433
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ail asile
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. Privilège d’inviolabilité accordé à certaines personnes et à certains lieux chez les anciens.

Where the eye mixes ail and asile

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ail
5 ch
asile

Look-alike desk: ail vs asile

A purely visual mix-up. ail (\aj\) and asile (\a.zil\) 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 14433, 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\. asile is at rank #5,007, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.zil\.

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 14433, this pair ranks #396,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ail vs asile

Shared letters: ail. Private to "ail": -. Private to "asile": es.

"ail" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "asile" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • asileaisle · asiel · asille · aslie · assile · saile

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ail" for "asile" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\aj\ versus \a.zil\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ail" or "asile"?
"asile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,007 in our French list, against #9,426 for "ail". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "ail" and "asile" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ail" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "asile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #396,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ail" and "asile" 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 #396,677 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list