Which to use
“folle” is a noun and “folles” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,074
- “folle” frequency rank
- #10,503
- “folles” frequency rank
- 13577
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | folle | folles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Filet à larges mailles, tendu lâche. | Féminin pluriel de fou. |
Same sound, different letters: folle vs folles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. folle runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against folles's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - folle and folles
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: folle and folles carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fɔl\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “folle” sits inside “folles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13577, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
folle is recorded at frequency rank #3,074, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔl\. folles is at rank #10,503, tagged as anadj, 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 13577, this pair ranks #400,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of folle vs folles
Shared letters: eflo. Private to "folle": -. Private to "folles": s.
"folle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "folles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "folle" for "folles" ever safe?
Which is more common, "folle" or "folles"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "folle" / "folles". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "folle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "folles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "folle" and "folles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs folles". 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 #400,422 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.