enfilade vs enfile, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“enfilade” is a noun and “enfile” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,141
“enfilade” frequency rank: #22,844
“enfile” frequency rank: 68985
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	enfilade	enfile
Definition	Suite de pièces d’un appartement.	Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de enfiler.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set enfilade and enfile apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

enfilade

6 ch

enfile

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enfilade is \ɑ̃.fi.lad\ while enfile is \ɑ̃.fil\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enfilade is recorded at frequency rank #46,141, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.fi.lad\. enfile is at rank #22,844, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.fil\.

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 68985, this pair ranks #56,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of enfilade vs enfile

Shared letters: efiln. Private to "enfilade": ad. Private to "enfile": -.

"enfilade" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "enfile" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

enfilade ← efnilade · enffilade · enfialde · enfiladde · enfilaed · enfildae · enfillade · enfliade
enfile ← efnile · enffile · enfiel · enfille · enflie · enifle · ennfile · nefile

Frequency comparison

enfilade#46,141

enfile#22,844

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enfilade" and "enfile" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enfilade" is a noun and "enfile" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "enfilade" or "enfile"?

"enfile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,844 in our French list, against #46,141 for "enfilade". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering enfilade vs enfile

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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