Which to use
“icône” is a noun and “isolé” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,173
- “icône” frequency rank
- #6,210
- “isolé” frequency rank
- 16383
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | icône | isolé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Image sainte, le plus souvent peinte sur bois, qui est vénérée dans l'Église d'Orient. | Qui est séparé de choses de même nature ou d’une autre nature. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set icône and isolé apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: icône is \i.kon\ while isolé is \i.zɔ.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
icône is recorded at frequency rank #10,173, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.kon\. isolé is at rank #6,210, tagged as anadj, pronounced \i.zɔ.le\.
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 16383, this pair ranks #388,080 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of icône vs isolé
Shared letters: i. Private to "icône": cenô. Private to "isolé": losé.
"icône" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "isolé" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "icône" and "isolé" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "icône" or "isolé"?
Remembering icône vs isolé
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “icône”; for an adjective, it's “isolé”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “icône” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable