filavsfleTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,763
“fila” frequency rank
#39,300
“fle” frequency rank
86063
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fila fle
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de filer. Dormir.

Where the eye mixes fila and fle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fila
3 ch
fle

Visual trap between fila and fle

A purely visual mix-up. fila (\fi.la\) and fle (\ˈfle\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86063, 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\. fle is at rank #39,300, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈfle\.

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 86063, this pair ranks #10,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fila vs fle

Shared letters: fl. Private to "fila": ai. Private to "fle": e.

"fila" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fle" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filaffila · filla · flia · ifla

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fila" and "fle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\fi.la\ versus \ˈfle\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fila" vs "fle" - which ranks higher?
"fle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,300 in our French list, against #46,763 for "fila". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "fle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fila" and "fle" 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 #10,291 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