Which to use
“illicite” and “illicites” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,650
- “illicite” frequency rank
- #21,348
- “illicites” frequency rank
- 36998
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | illicite | illicites |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est interdit par la morale ou par la loi. | Pluriel de illicite. |
Where the eye mixes illicite and illicites
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. illicite runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against illicites's 9 (VCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses illicite with illicites
A purely visual mix-up. illicite (\i.li.sit\) and illicites (\il.li.sit\) 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) - “illicite” sits inside “illicites”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36998, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
illicite is recorded at frequency rank #15,650, classified as anadj, pronounced \i.li.sit\. illicites is at rank #21,348, tagged as anadj, pronounced \il.li.sit\.
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 36998, this pair ranks #265,615 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of illicite vs illicites
Shared letters: ceilt. Private to "illicite": -. Private to "illicites": s.
"illicite" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "illicites" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "illicite" for "illicites" ever safe?
Frequency check: "illicite" vs "illicites" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "illicite" and "illicites" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "illicite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "illicites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #265,615 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "illicite" and "illicites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "illicites vs implicites". 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 #265,615 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.