idolevsisoléeTell them apart

Quick tell: idole is a noun, isolée is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#11,070
“idole” frequency rank
#10,179
“isolée” frequency rank
21249
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature idole isolée
Definition Figure, statue représentant une divinité qui fait l'objet d'une adoration religieuse, précisément, une idolâtrie. Féminin singulier de isolé.

Where the eye mixes idole and isolée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. idole runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against isolée's 6 (VCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
idole
6 ch
isolée

Visual trap between idole and isolée

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: idole is \i.dɔl\ while isolée is \i.zɔ.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21249, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

idole is recorded at frequency rank #11,070, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.dɔl\. isolée is at rank #10,179, 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 21249, this pair ranks #364,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of idole vs isolée

Shared letters: eilo. Private to "idole": d. Private to "isolée": sé.

"idole" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "isolée" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • idole ← diole · iddole · idloe · idoel · idolle · iodle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "idole" and "isolée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "idole" is a noun and "isolée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "idole" vs "isolée" - which ranks higher?
"isolée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,179 in our French list, against #11,070 for "idole". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "idole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "isolée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #364,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "idole" and "isolée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "idole vs isola". 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 #364,147 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list