Which to use
“fils” and “fin” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #337
- “fils” frequency rank
- #168
- “fin” frequency rank
- 505
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fils | fin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tout être humain de genre masculin considéré par rapport à son père et à sa mère, ou à un des deux seulement. | Ce qui termine une chose, en marque la limite, en est l'extrémité. |
Where the eye mixes fils and fin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fils with fin
A purely visual mix-up. fils (\fis\) and fin (\fɛ̃\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fils is recorded at frequency rank #337, classified as anoun, pronounced \fis\. fin is at rank #168, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛ̃\.
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 505, this pair ranks #439,535 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fils vs fin
Shared letters: fi. Private to "fils": ls. Private to "fin": n.
"fils" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "fin" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fils ← ffils · fills · filss · fisl · flis · ifls
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fils" for "fin" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fils" vs "fin" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fils" and "fin" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,535 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fils" and "fin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filez vs fils". 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 #439,535 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.