Which to use
“fila” is a verb and “fill” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,763
- “fila” frequency rank
- #38,807
- “fill” frequency rank
- 85570
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fila | fill |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de filer. | Aussitôt, immédiatement, sitôt, tout de suite, d’abord. |
Where the eye mixes fila and fill
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fila (CVCV) and fill (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses fila with fill
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fila is \fi.la\ while fill is \ˈfiɫ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “fila” becomes l in “fill”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85570, 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\. fill is at rank #38,807, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ˈfiɫ\.
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 85570, this pair ranks #11,123 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fila vs fill
Shared letters: fil. Private to "fila": a. Private to "fill": -.
"fila" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fill" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fila" and "fill" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fila" or "fill" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fila" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fill" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #11,123 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fila" and "fill" 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 #11,123 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.