Which to use
“fillon” and “frelon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,004
- “fillon” frequency rank
- #39,307
- “frelon” frequency rank
- 42311
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fillon | frelon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petit coquillage comestible, appartenant au genre telline. | Sorte de grosse guêpe, de nom scientifique Vespa crabro. |
Where the eye mixes fillon and frelon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fillon (CVCCVC) and frelon (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses fillon with frelon
A purely visual mix-up. fillon (\fi.jɔ̃\) and frelon (\fʁə.lɔ̃\) 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 42311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fillon is recorded at frequency rank #3,004, classified as anoun, pronounced \fi.jɔ̃\. frelon is at rank #39,307, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fʁə.lɔ̃\.
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 42311, this pair ranks #226,570 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fillon vs frelon
Shared letters: flno. Private to "fillon": i. Private to "frelon": er.
"fillon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "frelon" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fillon" and "frelon" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fillon" or "frelon"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fillon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frelon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #226,570 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fillon" and "frelon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frelon vs frelons". 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 #226,570 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.