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 eye mixes failles and fioles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. failles runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against fioles's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses failles with fioles
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "failles" and "fioles" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "failles" or "fioles"?
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 "failles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fioles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #108,376 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "failles" and "fioles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filez vs fioles". 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 #108,376 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.