fellationvsfiliationWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,542
“fellation” frequency rank
#13,598
“filiation” frequency rank
33140
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fellation filiation
Definition Pratique sexuelle consistant à sucer et lécher le pénis. Suite continue de générations, dans une même famille ; ligne directe qui descend des aïeux aux enfants, ou qui remonte des enfants aux aïeux.

Where the eye mixes fellation and filiation

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. fellation (CVCCVCVVC) and filiation (CVCVVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
fellation
9 ch
filiation

Visual trap between fellation and filiation

A purely visual mix-up. fellation (\fe.la.sjɔ̃\) and filiation (\fi.lja.sjɔ̃\) 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 33140, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fellation is recorded at frequency rank #19,542, classified as anoun, pronounced \fe.la.sjɔ̃\. filiation is at rank #13,598, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fi.lja.sjɔ̃\.

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 33140, this pair ranks #292,610 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fellation vs filiation

Shared letters: afilnot. Private to "fellation": e. Private to "filiation": -.

"fellation" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "filiation" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fellation ← efllation · felaltion · felation · fellaiton · fellatino · fellationn · fellatoin · fellattion
  • filiation ← ffiliation · fiilation · filaition · filiaiton · filiatino · filiationn · filiatoin · filiattion

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fellation" and "filiation" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\fe.la.sjɔ̃\ versus \fi.lja.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "fellation" or "filiation" show up more?
"filiation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,598 in our French list, against #19,542 for "fellation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "fellation" and "filiation" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fellation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "filiation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #292,610 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fellation" and "filiation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filiation vs filtration". 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 #292,610 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