figuesvsfillesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,559
“figues” frequency rank
#723
“filles” frequency rank
29282
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature figues filles
Definition Pluriel de figue. Pluriel de fille.

Where the eye mixes figues and filles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. figues (CVCVVC) and filles (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
figues
6 ch
filles

Why the eye confuses figues with filles

A purely visual mix-up. figues (\fiɡ\) and filles (\fij\) 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 29282, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

figues is recorded at frequency rank #28,559, classified as anoun, pronounced \fiɡ\. filles is at rank #723, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fij\.

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 29282, this pair ranks #317,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of figues vs filles

Shared letters: efis. Private to "figues": gu. Private to "filles": l.

"figues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "filles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • figues ← ffigues · fgiues · figeus · figgues · figuess · figuse · fiuges · ifgues
  • filles ← ffilles · filels · filless · fillse · fliles · iflles

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "figues" and "filles" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fiɡ\ versus \fij\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "figues" vs "filles" - which ranks higher?
"filles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #723 in our French list, against #28,559 for "figues". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "figues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "filles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #317,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "figues" and "filles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figées vs figues". 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 #317,660 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