ailévsalaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#38,126
“ailé” frequency rank
#26,249
“ala” frequency rank
64375
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ailé ala
Definition Qui possède des ailes. Dix-neuvième et dernier mois du calendrier bahaï, correspondant environ à la période du 2 au 20 mars du calendrier grégorien. Il est précédé des jours intercalaires et est un mois de jeûne.

Where the eye mixes ailé and ala

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ailé runs 4 letters (VVCV) against ala's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
ailé
3 ch
ala

Visual trap between ailé and ala

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ailé is \ɛ.le\ while ala is \a.la\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ailé is recorded at frequency rank #38,126, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ.le\. ala is at rank #26,249, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.la\.

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 64375, this pair ranks #77,347 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ailé vs ala

Shared letters: al. Private to "ailé": ié. Private to "ala": -.

"ailé" · 4 letters · shape VVCV  ·  "ala" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ailé" and "ala" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ailé" is an adjective and "ala" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "ailé" or "ala" show up more?
"ala" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,249 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.

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 "ailé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ala" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #77,347 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ailé" and "ala" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ailé vs Aure". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #77,347 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