habilesvshabilitésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: habiles is a adjective, habilités is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“habiles” is an adjective and “habilités” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,375
“habiles” frequency rank
#36,425
“habilités” frequency rank
65800
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature habiles habilités
Definition Pluriel de habile. Pluriel de habilité.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
habiles
9 ch
habilités

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: habiles is ^((h muet))\a.bil\ while habilités is \a.bi.li.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

habiles is recorded at frequency rank #29,375, classified as anadj, pronounced ^((h muet))\a.bil\. habilités is at rank #36,425, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.bi.li.te\.

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 65800, this pair ranks #70,714 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of habiles vs habilités

Shared letters: abhils. Private to "habiles": e. Private to "habilités": .

"habiles" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "habilités" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • habilesahbiles · habbiles · habiels · habiless · habilse · hablies · haibles · hbailes

Frequency comparison

habiles#29,375
habilités#36,425

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "habiles" and "habilités" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "habiles" is an adjective and "habilités" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "habiles" or "habilités"?
"habiles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,375 in our French list, against #36,425 for "habilités". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering habiles vs habilités

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list