habilevshabilléeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“habile” and “habillée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,172
“habile” frequency rank
#13,609
“habillée” frequency rank
25781
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature habile habillée
Definition Adroit ; qui fait ce qu’il entreprend avec souplesse. Féminin singulier de habillé.

Where the eye mixes habile and habillée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
habile
8 ch
habillée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. habile (^((h muet))\a.bil\) and habillée (^((h muet))\a.bi.je\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25781, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

habile is recorded at frequency rank #12,172, classified as anadj, pronounced ^((h muet))\a.bil\. habillée is at rank #13,609, tagged as anadj, pronounced ^((h muet))\a.bi.je\.

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 25781, this pair ranks #338,871 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of habile vs habillée

Shared letters: abehil. Private to "habile": -. Private to "habillée": é.

"habile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "habillée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • habileahbile · habbile · habiel · hablie · haible · hbaile · hhabile

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "habile" and "habillée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (^((h muet))\a.bil\ versus ^((h muet))\a.bi.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "habile" or "habillée"?
"habile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,172 in our French list, against #13,609 for "habillée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list