Which to use
“flics” and “folies” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,847
- “flics” frequency rank
- #15,382
- “folies” frequency rank
- 19229
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flics | folies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de flic. | Pluriel de folie. |
Where the eye mixes flics and folies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. flics runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against folies's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between flics and folies
A purely visual mix-up. flics (\flik\) and folies (\fɔ.li\) 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 19229, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flics is recorded at frequency rank #3,847, classified as anoun, pronounced \flik\. folies is at rank #15,382, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔ.li\.
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 19229, this pair ranks #374,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of flics vs folies
Shared letters: fils. Private to "flics": c. Private to "folies": eo.
"flics" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "folies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "flics" and "folies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "flics" or "folies" show up more?
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 "flics" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "folies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #374,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flics" and "folies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foins vs folies". 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 #374,299 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.