faillesvsfiolesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,382
“failles” frequency rank
#46,172
“fioles” frequency rank
58554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature failles fioles
Definition Pluriel de faille. Pluriel de fiole.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set failles and fioles apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
failles
6 ch
fioles

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. failles (\faj\) and fioles (\fjɔl\) 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 58554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

failles is recorded at frequency rank #12,382, classified as anoun, pronounced \faj\. fioles is at rank #46,172, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fjɔl\.

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 58554, this pair ranks #108,376 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of failles vs fioles

Shared letters: efils. Private to "failles": a. Private to "fioles": o.

"failles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "fioles" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faillesafilles · failels · failes · failless · faillse · faliles · ffailles · fialles
  • fiolesffioles · filoes · fioels · fioless · fiolles · fiolse · ifoles

Frequency comparison

failles#12,382
fioles#46,172

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "failles" and "fioles" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\faj\ versus \fjɔl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "failles" or "fioles"?
"failles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,382 in our French list, against #46,172 for "fioles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering failles vs fioles

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “failles” 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