Which to use
“pilote” and “plots” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,490
- “pilote” frequency rank
- #42,529
- “plots” frequency rank
- 45019
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pilote | plots |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne qui aide le capitaine d’un navire à l’entrée d’un port ou dans les passages difficiles ; celui qui gouverne, qui conduit un bâtiment de mer. | Pluriel de plot. |
Where the eye mixes pilote and plots
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pilote runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against plots's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between pilote and plots
A purely visual mix-up. pilote (\pi.lɔt\) and plots (\plo\) 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 45019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pilote is recorded at frequency rank #2,490, classified as anoun, pronounced \pi.lɔt\. plots is at rank #42,529, tagged as anoun, pronounced \plo\.
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 45019, this pair ranks #206,009 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pilote vs plots
Shared letters: lopt. Private to "pilote": ei. Private to "plots": s.
"pilote" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "plots" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pilote" for "plots" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pilote" vs "plots" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pilote" and "plots" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pilote" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #206,009 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pilote" and "plots" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pivots vs plots". 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 #206,009 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.