Which to use
“fil” and “filon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,263
- “fil” frequency rank
- #24,975
- “filon” frequency rank
- 26238
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fil | filon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petite partie longue et déliée qu’on détache de l’écorce du chanvre, du lin, etc. | Gisement étendu d’une matière, de forme allongée, permettant son identification. |
Where the eye mixes fil and filon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fil vs filon
A purely visual mix-up. fil (\fil\) and filon (\fi.lɔ̃\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “fil” sits inside “filon”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26238, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fil is recorded at frequency rank #1,263, classified as anoun, pronounced \fil\. filon is at rank #24,975, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fi.lɔ̃\.
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 26238, this pair ranks #336,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fil vs filon
Shared letters: fil. Private to "fil": -. Private to "filon": no.
"fil" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "filon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- filon ← ffilon · filno · filonn · fioln · flion · iflon
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fil" and "filon" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fil" or "filon"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fil" and "filon" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "filon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fil" and "filon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filez vs filon". 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 #336,276 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.