Which to use
“étoilée” and “exilée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,829
- “étoilée” frequency rank
- #45,601
- “exilée” frequency rank
- 80430
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étoilée | exilée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Synonyme d’orgye étoilée (papillon). | Femme exilée. |
Where the eye mixes étoilée and exilée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. étoilée runs 7 letters (VCVVCVV) against exilée's 6 (VCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between étoilée and exilée
A purely visual mix-up. étoilée (\e.twa.le\) and exilée (\ɛɡ.zi.le\) 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 80430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
étoilée is recorded at frequency rank #34,829, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.twa.le\. exilée is at rank #45,601, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛɡ.zi.le\.
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 80430, this pair ranks #20,952 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of étoilée vs exilée
Shared letters: eilé. Private to "étoilée": ot. Private to "exilée": x.
"étoilée" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVV · "exilée" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "étoilée" for "exilée" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "étoilée" or "exilée" show up more?
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 "étoilée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exilée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,952 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étoilée" and "exilée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exigez vs exilée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #20,952 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.