elevselleWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ele is a noun, elle is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ele” is a noun and “elle” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,239
“ele” frequency rank
#41
“elle” frequency rank
40280
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ele elle
Definition Parole, discours, propos. Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du singulier féminin sujet.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ele and elle apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
ele
4 ch
elle

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ele is anoun and elleapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ele is recorded at frequency rank #40,239, classified as anoun. elle is at rank #41, tagged as apron, pronounced \ɛl\.

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 40280, this pair ranks #241,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ele vs elle

Shared letters: el. Private to "ele": -. Private to "elle": -.

"ele" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "elle" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • elleelel · lele

Frequency comparison

ele#40,239
elle#41

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ele" and "elle" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ele" is a noun and "elle" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ele" or "elle"?
"elle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41 in our French list, against #40,239 for "ele". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ele vs elle

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ele”; for a pronoun, it's “elle”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ele” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list