Which to use
“oreille” and “oreiller” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,210
- “oreille” frequency rank
- #13,026
- “oreiller” frequency rank
- 16236
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | oreille | oreiller |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Appareil de l’audition divisé en trois parties. | Coussin qui sert à soutenir la tête quand on est couché. |
Where the eye mixes oreille and oreiller
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. oreille runs 7 letters (VCVVCCV) against oreiller's 8 (VCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses oreille with oreiller
A purely visual mix-up. oreille (\ɔ.ʁɛj\) and oreiller (\ɔ.ʁɛ.je\) 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) - “oreille” sits inside “oreiller”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16236, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
oreille is recorded at frequency rank #3,210, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.ʁɛj\. oreiller is at rank #13,026, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.ʁɛ.je\.
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 16236, this pair ranks #388,760 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of oreille vs oreiller
Shared letters: eilor. Private to "oreille": -. Private to "oreiller": -.
"oreille" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCCV · "oreiller" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "oreille" and "oreiller" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "oreille" vs "oreiller" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "oreille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "oreiller" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #388,760 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "oreille" and "oreiller" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oreiller vs osciller". 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 #388,760 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.