Which to use
“belles” and “belli” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,430
- “belles” frequency rank
- #40,138
- “belli” frequency rank
- 41568
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | belles | belli |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de l’adjectif beau. | Pluriel de bello. |
Where the eye mixes belles and belli
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. belles runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against belli's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between belles and belli
A purely visual mix-up. belles (\bɛl\) and belli (\ˈbɛl.li\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41568, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
belles is recorded at frequency rank #1,430, classified as anadj, pronounced \bɛl\. belli is at rank #40,138, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈbɛl.li\.
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 41568, this pair ranks #232,165 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of belles vs belli
Shared letters: bel. Private to "belles": s. Private to "belli": i.
"belles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "belli" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "belles" and "belli" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "belles" vs "belli" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "belles" and "belli" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "belles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "belli" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,165 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "belles" and "belli" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "belli vs below". 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 #232,165 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.