argilevsargilesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,991
“argile” frequency rank
#28,055
“argiles” frequency rank
39046
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature argile argiles
Definition Minéral se présentant sous la forme d’une poudre souvent très fine. Avec de l’eau elle forme une terre douce au toucher, malléable et plastique → voir minéral argileux. Elle est composée principalement de silicates et d’aluminosilicates. Elle est généralement blanchâtre, mais peut être teintée par des sels métalliques (rouge, orange, vert, etc.). Pluriel de argile.

Same sound, different letters: argile vs argiles

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. argile runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against argiles's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
argile
7 ch
argiles

Same sound, different spelling - argile / argiles

This is the hard kind. argile and argiles are pronounced identically (\aʁ.ʒil\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “argile” sits inside “argiles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39046, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

argile is recorded at frequency rank #10,991, classified as anoun, pronounced \aʁ.ʒil\. argiles is at rank #28,055, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aʁ.ʒil\.

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 39046, this pair ranks #250,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of argile vs argiles

Shared letters: aegilr. Private to "argile": -. Private to "argiles": s.

"argile" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "argiles" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • argile ← agrile · arggile · argiel · argille · arglie · arigle · arrgile · ragile
  • argiles ← agriles · arggiles · argiels · argiless · argilles · argilse · arglies · arigles

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "argile" for "argiles" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\aʁ.ʒil\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "argile" or "argiles"?
"argile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,991 in our French list, against #28,055 for "argiles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"argile" and "argiles" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "argile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "argiles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #250,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "argile" and "argiles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "argiles vs argilo". 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 #250,907 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