pliésvsplisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,634
“pliés” frequency rank
#16,211
“plis” frequency rank
60845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pliés plis
Definition Pluriel de plié. Pluriel de pli.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pliés and plis apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pliés
4 ch
plis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pliés (\pli.je\) and plis (\pli\) 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 60845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pliés is recorded at frequency rank #44,634, classified as anoun, pronounced \pli.je\. plis is at rank #16,211, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pli\.

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 60845, this pair ranks #95,490 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pliés vs plis

Shared letters: ilps. Private to "pliés": é. Private to "plis": -.

"pliés" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "plis" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • plislpis · pils · pliss · pllis · plsi · pplis

Frequency comparison

pliés#44,634
plis#16,211

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pliés" and "plis" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pli.je\ versus \pli\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pliés" or "plis"?
"plis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,211 in our French list, against #44,634 for "pliés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pliés vs plis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pliés” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list