Which to use
“flic” and “flot” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,194
- “flic” frequency rank
- #11,221
- “flot” frequency rank
- 17415
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flic | flot |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Policier. | Masse liquide en mouvement. |
Where the eye mixes flic and flot
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between flic and flot
A purely visual mix-up. flic (\flik\) and flot (\flo\) 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 17415, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flic is recorded at frequency rank #6,194, classified as anoun, pronounced \flik\. flot is at rank #11,221, tagged as anoun, pronounced \flo\.
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 17415, this pair ranks #383,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of flic vs flot
Shared letters: fl. Private to "flic": ci. Private to "flot": ot.
"flic" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "flot" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "flic" for "flot" ever safe?
Frequency check: "flic" vs "flot" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "flic" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #383,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flic" and "flot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flot vs flour". 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 #383,287 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.