pillésvspolluésConfusable pair

Which to use

“pillés” and “pollués” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,925
“pillés” frequency rank
#40,931
“pollués” frequency rank
81856
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pillés pollués
Definition Participe passé masculin pluriel de piller. Participe passé masculin pluriel de polluer.

Where the eye mixes pillés and pollués

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pillés runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against pollués's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pillés
7 ch
pollués

Look-alike desk: pillés vs pollués

A purely visual mix-up. pillés (\pi.je\) and pollués (\pɔ.lɥe\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pillés is recorded at frequency rank #40,925, classified as averb, pronounced \pi.je\. pollués is at rank #40,931, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɔ.lɥe\.

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 81856, this pair ranks #17,916 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pillés vs pollués

Shared letters: lpsé. Private to "pillés": i. Private to "pollués": ou.

"pillés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pollués" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pillés" and "pollués" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pi.je\ versus \pɔ.lɥe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pillés" or "pollués"?
"pillés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,925 in our French list, against #40,931 for "pollués". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pillés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pollués" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,916 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pillés" and "pollués" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poilues vs pollués". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #17,916 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