Which to use
“fila” is a verb and “fine” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,763
- “fila” frequency rank
- #3,919
- “fine” frequency rank
- 50682
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fila | fine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de filer. | Terme utilisé communément dans l’imprimerie et par les typographes pour désigner une espace insécable, mais d'une largeur fixe non justifiable (en cas de justification des lignes complètes de paragraphes entre les deux marges), et plus fine (entre un sixième et un quart de cadratin, selon les polices de caractères utilisées) que l’espace normale (un demi cadratin) séparant les mots ; la fine est utilisée soit en juxtaposition avec certains signes de ponctuation, soit aussi (dans les conventions typographiques françaises) comme séparateur de groupes de chiffres dans un nombre ou un numéro. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fila and fine apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
fila and fine form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50682, 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\. fine is at rank #3,919, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fin\.
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 50682, this pair ranks #160,744 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fila" and "fine" be used interchangeably?
Remembering fila vs fine
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “fila”; for a noun, it's “fine”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fila” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable