Which to use
“fila” and “filait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,763
- “fila” frequency rank
- #36,391
- “filait” frequency rank
- 83154
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fila | filait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de filer. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de filer. |
Where the eye mixes fila and filait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fila runs 4 letters (CVCV) against filait's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fila with filait
A purely visual mix-up. fila (\fi.la\) and filait (\fi.lɛ\) 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) - “fila” sits inside “filait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fila is recorded at frequency rank #46,763, classified as averb, pronounced \fi.la\. filait is at rank #36,391, tagged as averb, pronounced \fi.lɛ\.
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 83154, this pair ranks #15,359 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fila vs filait
Shared letters: afil. Private to "fila": -. Private to "filait": t.
"fila" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "filait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fila" for "filait" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fila" vs "filait" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fila" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "filait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,359 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fila" and "filait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fila vs filez". 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 #15,359 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.