Which to use
“défilé” and “devils” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,498
- “défilé” frequency rank
- #24,930
- “devils” frequency rank
- 31428
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | défilé | devils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Passage étroit où il ne peut passer que peu de personnes de front. | Pluriel de devil. |
Where the eye mixes défilé and devils
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses défilé with devils
A purely visual mix-up. défilé (\de.fi.le\) and devils (\ˈdɛv.əlz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
défilé is recorded at frequency rank #6,498, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.fi.le\. devils is at rank #24,930, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈdɛv.əlz\.
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 31428, this pair ranks #303,844 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of défilé vs devils
Shared letters: dil. Private to "défilé": fé. Private to "devils": esv.
"défilé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "devils" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- devils ← ddevils · deivls · devills · devilss · devisl · devlis · devvils · dveils
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "défilé" for "devils" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "défilé" or "devils" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "défilé" and "devils" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "défilé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #303,844 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "défilé" and "devils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devils vs devins". 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 #303,844 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.