Which to use
“folies” and “folle” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,382
- “folies” frequency rank
- #3,074
- “folle” frequency rank
- 18456
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | folies | folle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de folie. | Filet à larges mailles, tendu lâche. |
Where the eye mixes folies and folle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. folies runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against folle's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between folies and folle
A purely visual mix-up. folies (\fɔ.li\) and folle (\fɔl\) 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 18456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
folies is recorded at frequency rank #15,382, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ.li\. folle is at rank #3,074, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔl\.
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 18456, this pair ranks #378,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of folies vs folle
Shared letters: eflo. Private to "folies": is. Private to "folle": -.
"folies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "folle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "folies" and "folle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "folies" vs "folle" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "folies" and "folle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "folies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "folle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #378,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "folies" and "folle" 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 #378,224 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.