filavsfolkWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fila is a verb, folk is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fila” is a verb and “folk” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,763
“fila” frequency rank
#13,794
“folk” frequency rank
60557
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fila folk
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de filer. Forme courte de musique folk.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fila and folk apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
fila
4 ch
folk

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fila is \fi.la\ while folk is \fɔlk\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60557, 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\. folk is at rank #13,794, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔlk\.

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 60557, this pair ranks #96,994 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fila vs folk

Shared letters: fl. Private to "fila": ai. Private to "folk": ko.

"fila" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "folk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filaffila · filla · flia · ifla
  • folkffolk · flok · fokl · folkk · follk · oflk

Frequency comparison

fila#46,763
folk#13,794

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fila" and "folk" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fila" is a verb and "folk" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fila" or "folk"?
"folk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,794 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.

Remembering fila vs folk

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 “folk”.
  • 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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list