Which to use
“quais” and “quils” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,217
- “quais” frequency rank
- #32,543
- “quils” frequency rank
- 42760
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | quais | quils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de quai. | Pluriel de quil. |
Where the eye mixes quais and quils
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. quais (CVVVC) and quils (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses quais with quils
A purely visual mix-up. quais (\ke\) and quils (\kils\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42760, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
quais is recorded at frequency rank #10,217, classified as anoun, pronounced \ke\. quils is at rank #32,543, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kils\.
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 42760, this pair ranks #223,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of quais vs quils
Shared letters: iqsu. Private to "quais": a. Private to "quils": l.
"quais" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "quils" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "quais" and "quils" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "quais" or "quils" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "quais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "quils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #223,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "quais" and "quils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quils vs quite". 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 #223,147 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.