pédophilesvspédophilieWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pédophiles is a adjective, pédophilie is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pédophiles” is an adjective and “pédophilie” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,572
“pédophiles” frequency rank
#15,982
“pédophilie” frequency rank
34554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pédophiles pédophilie
Definition Pluriel de pédophile. Attirance sexuelle, pathologique et criminelle, envers les personnes impubères ou en début de puberté, qui domine la sexualité d'un individu.

Where the eye mixes pédophiles and pédophilie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. pédophiles (CVCVCCVCVC) and pédophilie (CVCVCCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
pédophiles
10 ch
pédophilie

Why the eye confuses pédophiles with pédophilie

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pédophiles is \pe.dɔ.fil\ while pédophilie is \pe.dɔ.fi.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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pédophiles is recorded at frequency rank #18,572, classified as anadj, pronounced \pe.dɔ.fil\. pédophilie is at rank #15,982, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pe.dɔ.fi.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 34554, this pair ranks #282,980 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pédophiles vs pédophilie

Shared letters: dehilopé. Private to "pédophiles": s. Private to "pédophilie": -.

"pédophiles" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC  ·  "pédophilie" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pédophiles" for "pédophilie" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pédophiles" is an adjective and "pédophilie" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "pédophiles" vs "pédophilie" - which ranks higher?
"pédophilie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,982 in our French list, against #18,572 for "pédophiles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "pédophiles" and "pédophilie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pédophiles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pédophilie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,980 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pédophiles" and "pédophilie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pédophile vs pédophiles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #282,980 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list