Which to use
“filant” is an adjective and “filent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,790
- “filant” frequency rank
- #31,030
- “filent” frequency rank
- 72820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | filant | filent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui coule sans se diviser et s’allonge en une apparence de fil continu. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de filer. |
Where the eye mixes filant and filent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. filant and filent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses filant with filent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: filant is \fi.lɑ̃\ while filent is \fil\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “filant” becomes e in “filent”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
filant is recorded at frequency rank #41,790, classified as anadj, pronounced \fi.lɑ̃\. filent is at rank #31,030, tagged as averb, pronounced \fil\.
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 72820, this pair ranks #42,657 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of filant vs filent
Shared letters: filnt. Private to "filant": a. Private to "filent": e.
"filant" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "filent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "filant" for "filent" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "filant" or "filent" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "filant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "filent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #42,657 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "filant" and "filent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filant vs filmant". 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 #42,657 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.