Which to use
“habiller” and “habilles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,065
- “habiller” frequency rank
- #42,917
- “habilles” frequency rank
- 49982
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | habiller | habilles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mettre des habits à quelqu’un, le vêtir. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de habiller. |
Where the eye mixes habiller and habilles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. habiller and habilles follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses habiller with habilles
A purely visual mix-up. habiller (^((h muet))\a.bi.je\) and habilles (\a.bij\) 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 a single letter - r in “habiller” becomes s in “habilles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
habiller is recorded at frequency rank #7,065, classified as averb, pronounced ^((h muet))\a.bi.je\. habilles is at rank #42,917, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.bij\.
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 49982, this pair ranks #166,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of habiller vs habilles
Shared letters: abehil. Private to "habiller": r. Private to "habilles": s.
"habiller" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "habilles" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "habiller" and "habilles" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "habiller" vs "habilles" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "habiller" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "habilles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "habiller" and "habilles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "habilles vs habillez". 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 #166,257 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.