habiletévshabilitésWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,725
“habileté” frequency rank
#36,425
“habilités” frequency rank
54150
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature habileté habilités
Definition Facilité, disposition, qualité qui rend propre à faire certaines choses, à réussir dans certaines actions, en particulier en utilisant ses mains. Pluriel de habilité.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set habileté and habilités apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
habileté
9 ch
habilités

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. habileté (\a.bil.te\) and habilités (\a.bi.li.te\) 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 54150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

habileté is recorded at frequency rank #17,725, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.bil.te\. 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 54150, this pair ranks #135,933 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of habileté vs habilités

Shared letters: abhilté. Private to "habileté": e. Private to "habilités": s.

"habileté" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "habilités" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Frequency comparison

habileté#17,725
habilités#36,425

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "habileté" and "habilités" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.bil.te\ versus \a.bi.li.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "habileté" or "habilités"?
"habileté" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,725 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 habileté vs habilités

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “habileté” 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