Which to use
“illégale” is a noun and “illégaux” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,711
- “illégale” frequency rank
- #14,055
- “illégaux” frequency rank
- 21766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | illégale | illégaux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espionne. | Masculin pluriel de illégal. |
Where the eye mixes illégale and illégaux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. illégale (VCCVCVCV) and illégaux (VCCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between illégale and illégaux
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: illégale is \i.le.gal\ while illégaux is \i.le.ɡo\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 21766, 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\. illégaux is at rank #14,055, tagged as anadj, pronounced \i.le.ɡo\.
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 21766, this pair ranks #361,521 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of illégale vs illégaux
Shared letters: agilé. Private to "illégale": e. Private to "illégaux": ux.
"illégale" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "illégaux" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "illégale" for "illégaux" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "illégale" or "illégaux" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "illégale" and "illégaux" 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 "illégaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #361,521 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "illégale" and "illégaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "illegal vs illégaux". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #361,521 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.