Which to use
“basil” and “basile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,195
- “basil” frequency rank
- #20,933
- “basile” frequency rank
- 58128
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | basil | basile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Basilic (Ocimum basilicum). | Inclinaison du fer d’un rabot, d’une varlope. |
Where the eye mixes basil and basile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses basil with basile
A purely visual mix-up. basil (\ˈbæz.əl\) and basile (\ba.sil\) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “basil” sits inside “basile”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58128, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
basil is recorded at frequency rank #37,195, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈbæz.əl\. basile is at rank #20,933, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ba.sil\.
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 58128, this pair ranks #110,861 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of basil vs basile
Shared letters: abils. Private to "basil": -. Private to "basile": e.
"basil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "basile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "basil" and "basile" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "basil" or "basile" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "basil" and "basile" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "basil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "basile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #110,861 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "basil" and "basile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "basale vs basil". 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 #110,861 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.