filetsvsflotsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,483
“filets” frequency rank
#15,882
“flots” frequency rank
25365
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature filets flots
Definition Pluriel de filet. Pluriel de flot.

Where the eye mixes filets and flots

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
filets
5 ch
flots

Visual trap between filets and flots

A purely visual mix-up. filets (\fi.lɛ\) and flots (\flo\) 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 25365, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

filets is recorded at frequency rank #9,483, classified as anoun, pronounced \fi.lɛ\. flots is at rank #15,882, tagged as anoun, pronounced \flo\.

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 25365, this pair ranks #341,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of filets vs flots

Shared letters: flst. Private to "filets": ei. Private to "flots": o.

"filets" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "flots" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filetsffilets · fielts · filest · filetss · filetts · fillets · filtes · fliets
  • flotsfflots · fllots · flost · flotss · flotts · fltos · folts · lfots

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "filets" and "flots" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fi.lɛ\ versus \flo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "filets" vs "flots" - which ranks higher?
"filets" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,483 in our French list, against #15,882 for "flots". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "filets" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "flots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #341,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "filets" and "flots" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flots vs flour". 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 #341,293 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