filezvsfleWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,655
“filez” frequency rank
#39,300
“fle” frequency rank
88955
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature filez fle
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de filer. Dormir.

Where the eye mixes filez and fle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
filez
3 ch
fle

Look-alike desk: filez vs fle

A purely visual mix-up. filez (\fi.le\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88955, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

filez is recorded at frequency rank #49,655, classified as averb, pronounced \fi.le\. 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 88955, this pair ranks #6,342 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of filez vs fle

Shared letters: efl. Private to "filez": iz. Private to "fle": -.

"filez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "fle" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filezffilez · fielz · filezz · fillez · filze · fliez · iflez

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "filez" for "fle" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fi.le\ versus \ˈfle\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "filez" or "fle"?
"fle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,300 in our French list, against #49,655 for "filez". 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 "filez" 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 #6,342 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "filez" 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 #6,342 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