Which to use
“poils” and “profils” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,692
- “poils” frequency rank
- #8,291
- “profils” frequency rank
- 13983
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poils | profils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de poil. | Pluriel de profil. |
Where the eye mixes poils and profils
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between poils and profils
A purely visual mix-up. poils (\pwal\) and profils (\pʁɔ.fil\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poils is recorded at frequency rank #5,692, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwal\. profils is at rank #8,291, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.fil\.
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 13983, this pair ranks #398,711 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poils vs profils
Shared letters: ilops. Private to "poils": -. Private to "profils": fr.
"poils" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "profils" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poils" for "profils" ever safe?
Frequency check: "poils" vs "profils" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "poils" and "profils" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "profils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,711 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poils" and "profils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poils vs poilues". 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 #398,711 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.