diablesvsdiabloWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,351
“diables” frequency rank
#25,967
“diablo” frequency rank
41318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature diables diablo
Definition Pluriel de diable. Le Diable (Satan).

Where the eye mixes diables and diablo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. diables runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against diablo's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
diables
6 ch
diablo

Why the eye confuses diables with diablo

A purely visual mix-up. diables (\djɑbl\) and diablo (\ˈdja.blo\) 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 41318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

diables is recorded at frequency rank #15,351, classified as anoun, pronounced \djɑbl\. diablo is at rank #25,967, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈdja.blo\.

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 41318, this pair ranks #233,993 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of diables vs diablo

Shared letters: abdil. Private to "diables": es. Private to "diablo": o.

"diables" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "diablo" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • diables ← daibles · ddiables · diabbles · diabels · diabless · diablles · diablse · dialbes
  • diablo ← daiblo · ddiablo · diabblo · diabllo · diabol · dialbo · dibalo · idablo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "diables" and "diablo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\djɑbl\ versus \ˈdja.blo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "diables" or "diablo"?
"diables" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,351 in our French list, against #25,967 for "diablo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "diables" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "diablo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #233,993 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "diables" and "diablo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dabo vs diablo". 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 #233,993 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