Which to use
“fed” and “fil” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,134
- “fed” frequency rank
- #1,263
- “fil” frequency rank
- 18397
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fed | fil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Abréviation de fédéraux. | Petite partie longue et déliée qu’on détache de l’écorce du chanvre, du lin, etc. |
Where the eye mixes fed and fil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fed vs fil
A purely visual mix-up. fed (\fɛd\) and fil (\fil\) 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 18397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fed is recorded at frequency rank #17,134, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛd\. fil is at rank #1,263, tagged as anoun, pronounced \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 18397, this pair ranks #378,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fed vs fil
Shared letters: f. Private to "fed": de. Private to "fil": il.
"fed" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "fil" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fed" and "fil" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "fed" or "fil" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fed" and "fil" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #378,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fed" and "fil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fed vs Fee". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #378,536 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.