enfilevsenfuieWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,844
“enfile” frequency rank
#38,275
“enfuie” frequency rank
61119
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enfile enfuie
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de enfiler. Participe passé féminin singulier de enfuir.

Where the eye mixes enfile and enfuie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. enfile (VCCVCV) and enfuie (VCCVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
enfile
6 ch
enfuie

Look-alike desk: enfile vs enfuie

A purely visual mix-up. enfile (\ɑ̃.fil\) and enfuie (\ɑ̃.fɥi\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enfile is recorded at frequency rank #22,844, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.fil\. enfuie is at rank #38,275, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.fɥi\.

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 61119, this pair ranks #93,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of enfile vs enfuie

Shared letters: efin. Private to "enfile": l. Private to "enfuie": u.

"enfile" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "enfuie" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enfileefnile · enffile · enfiel · enfille · enflie · enifle · ennfile · nefile
  • enfuieefnuie · enffuie · enfiue · enfuei · ennfuie · enufie · nefuie

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "enfile" and "enfuie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.fil\ versus \ɑ̃.fɥi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "enfile" or "enfuie" show up more?
"enfile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,844 in our French list, against #38,275 for "enfuie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "enfile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enfuie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #93,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enfile" and "enfuie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enfouies vs enfuie". 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 #93,976 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