Which to use
“filon” is a noun and “filons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,975
- “filon” frequency rank
- #27,812
- “filons” frequency rank
- 52787
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | filon | filons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gisement étendu d’une matière, de forme allongée, permettant son identification. | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe filer. |
Same sound, different letters: filon vs filons
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. filon runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against filons's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - filon / filons
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: filon and filons carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fi.lɔ̃\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “filon” sits inside “filons”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
filon is recorded at frequency rank #24,975, classified as anoun, pronounced \fi.lɔ̃\. filons is at rank #27,812, tagged as averb, pronounced \fi.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 52787, this pair ranks #145,301 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of filon vs filons
Shared letters: filno. Private to "filon": -. Private to "filons": s.
"filon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "filons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "filon" and "filons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "filon" or "filons" show up more?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "filon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "filons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #145,301 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "filon" and "filons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filez vs filon". 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 #145,301 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.