édilesvsétoilesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#47,117
“édiles” frequency rank
#2,159
“étoiles” frequency rank
49276
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature édiles étoiles
Definition Pluriel de édile. Pluriel de étoile.

Where the eye mixes édiles and étoiles

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

6 ch
édiles
7 ch
étoiles

Visual trap between édiles and étoiles

A purely visual mix-up. édiles (\e.dil\) and étoiles (\e.twal\) 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 49276, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

édiles is recorded at frequency rank #47,117, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.dil\. étoiles is at rank #2,159, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.twal\.

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 49276, this pair ranks #171,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of édiles vs étoiles

Shared letters: eilsé. Private to "édiles": d. Private to "étoiles": ot.

"édiles" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "étoiles" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "édiles" for "étoiles" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\e.dil\ versus \e.twal\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "édiles" vs "étoiles" - which ranks higher?
"étoiles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,159 in our French list, against #47,117 for "édiles". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "édiles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "étoiles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #171,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "édiles" and "étoiles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "édiles vs endives". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #171,996 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