Which to use
“illégale” and “illégales” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,711
- “illégale” frequency rank
- #12,981
- “illégales” frequency rank
- 20692
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | illégale | illégales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espionne. | Pluriel de illégale. |
Where the eye mixes illégale and illégales
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. illégale runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against illégales's 9 (VCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between illégale and illégales
A purely visual mix-up. illégale (\i.le.gal\) and illégales (\i.le.ɡal\) 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 extra letter(s) - “illégale” sits inside “illégales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
illégale is recorded at frequency rank #7,711, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.le.gal\. illégales is at rank #12,981, tagged as anoun, pronounced \i.le.ɡal\.
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 20692, this pair ranks #366,980 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of illégale vs illégales
Shared letters: aegilé. Private to "illégale": -. Private to "illégales": s.
"illégale" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "illégales" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "illégale" and "illégales" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "illégale" or "illégales"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "illégale" and "illégales" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "illégale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "illégales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #366,980 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "illégale" and "illégales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "illegal vs illégales". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #366,980 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.