jadisvsjolisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: jadis is a adverb, jolis is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“jadis” is an adverb and “jolis” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,117
“jadis” frequency rank
#10,182
“jolis” frequency rank
18299
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jadis jolis
Definition Autrefois, au temps passé, dans le passé lointain, il y a longtemps. Masculin pluriel de joli.

Where the eye mixes jadis and jolis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
jadis
5 ch
jolis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jadis is \ʒa.dis\ while jolis is \ʒɔ.li\. 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 (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jadis is recorded at frequency rank #8,117, classified as anadv, pronounced \ʒa.dis\. jolis is at rank #10,182, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʒɔ.li\.

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 18299, this pair ranks #379,039 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of jadis vs jolis

Shared letters: ijs. Private to "jadis": ad. Private to "jolis": lo.

"jadis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "jolis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • jadisajdis · jaddis · jadiss · jadsi · jaids · jdais · jjadis
  • jolisjjolis · jlois · joils · joliss · jollis · jolsi · ojlis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "jadis" and "jolis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "jadis" is an adverb and "jolis" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "jadis" or "jolis"?
"jadis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,117 in our French list, against #10,182 for "jolis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "jadis" and "jolis". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "jadis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "jolis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #379,039 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "jadis" and "jolis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jolis vs Josie". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list