Which to use
“fillette” and “filleule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,164
- “fillette” frequency rank
- #46,170
- “filleule” frequency rank
- 55334
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fillette | filleule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petite fille, enfant du sexe ou genre féminin qui n’est plus un bébé. | Fille spirituelle d’un parrain ou d’une marraine, jeune fille pour laquelle une cérémonie de parrainage a eu lieu. |
Where the eye mixes fillette and filleule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. fillette (CVCCVCCV) and filleule (CVCCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses fillette with filleule
A purely visual mix-up. fillette (\fi.jɛt\) and filleule (\fi.jœl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55334, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fillette is recorded at frequency rank #9,164, classified as anoun, pronounced \fi.jɛt\. filleule is at rank #46,170, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fi.jœl\.
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 55334, this pair ranks #128,107 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fillette vs filleule
Shared letters: efil. Private to "fillette": t. Private to "filleule": u.
"fillette" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "filleule" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fillette" for "filleule" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fillette" or "filleule"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fillette" and "filleule" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fillette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "filleule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #128,107 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fillette" and "filleule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filleul vs filleule". 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 #128,107 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.