argilevsargiloWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,991
“argile” frequency rank
#46,581
“argilo” frequency rank
57572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature argile argilo
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.). Argile.

Where the eye mixes argile and argilo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
argile
6 ch
argilo

Look-alike desk: argile vs argilo

A purely visual mix-up. argile (\aʁ.ʒil\) and argilo (\ar.ˈɡi.lo\) 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 a single letter - e in “argile” becomes o in “argilo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57572, 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\. argilo is at rank #46,581, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ar.ˈɡi.lo\.

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 57572, this pair ranks #114,231 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of argile vs argilo

Shared letters: agilr. Private to "argile": e. Private to "argilo": o.

"argile" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "argilo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • argileagrile · arggile · argiel · argille · arglie · arigle · arrgile · ragile
  • argiloagrilo · arggilo · argillo · argiol · arglio · ariglo · arrgilo · ragilo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "argile" for "argilo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\aʁ.ʒil\ versus \ar.ˈɡi.lo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "argile" vs "argilo" - which ranks higher?
"argile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,991 in our French list, against #46,581 for "argilo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "argile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "argilo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #114,231 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "argile" and "argilo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "argilo vs argo". 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 #114,231 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