gentil vs Gentilly, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“gentil” is an adjective and “Gentilly” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,280
“gentil” frequency rank: #38,314
“Gentilly” frequency rank: 40594
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	gentil	Gentilly
Definition	Agréable, charmant, mignon, aimable. Qui a une certaine grâce, un certain agrément délicat.	Commune française, située dans le département du Val-de-Marne.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gentil and Gentilly apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

gentil

8 ch

Gentilly

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gentil is \ʒɑ̃.ti\ while Gentilly is \ʒɑ̃.ti.ji\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “gentil” sits inside “Gentilly”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gentil is recorded at frequency rank #2,280, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʒɑ̃.ti\. Gentilly is at rank #38,314, tagged as aname, pronounced \ʒɑ̃.ti.ji\.

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 40594, this pair ranks #239,359 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gentil vs Gentilly

Shared letters: egilnt. Private to "gentil": -. Private to "Gentilly": y.

"gentil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Gentilly" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

gentil ← egntil · genitl · genntil · gentill · gentli · genttil · getnil · ggentil
Gentilly ← egntilly · genitlly · genntilly · gentillyy · gentily · gentilyl · gentlily · genttilly

Frequency comparison

gentil#2,280

Gentilly#38,314

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gentil" and "Gentilly" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gentil" is an adjective and "Gentilly" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "gentil" or "Gentilly"?

"gentil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,280 in our French list, against #38,314 for "Gentilly". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering gentil vs Gentilly

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “gentil”; for a name, it's “Gentilly”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gentil” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable