fillesvsfiolesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#723
“filles” frequency rank
#46,172
“fioles” frequency rank
46895
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature filles fioles
Definition Pluriel de fille. Pluriel de fiole.

Where the eye mixes filles and fioles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. filles (CVCCVC) and fioles (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
filles
6 ch
fioles

Visual trap between filles and fioles

A purely visual mix-up. filles (\fij\) and fioles (\fjɔl\) 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 a single letter - l in “filles” becomes o in “fioles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46895, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

filles is recorded at frequency rank #723, classified as anoun, pronounced \fij\. fioles is at rank #46,172, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fjɔl\.

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 46895, this pair ranks #191,197 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of filles vs fioles

Shared letters: efils. Private to "filles": -. Private to "fioles": o.

"filles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "fioles" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filles ← ffilles · filels · filless · fillse · fliles · iflles
  • fioles ← ffioles · filoes · fioels · fioless · fiolles · fiolse · ifoles

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "filles" and "fioles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\fij\ versus \fjɔl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "filles" or "fioles"?
"filles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #723 in our French list, against #46,172 for "fioles". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "filles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fioles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #191,197 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "filles" and "fioles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filez vs fioles". 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 #191,197 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