Which to use
“quelles” is an adjective and “quille” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,932
- “quelles” frequency rank
- #32,972
- “quille” frequency rank
- 34904
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | quelles | quille |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de quel. | Partie fixe et immergée de la coque sous le bateau faisant office de dérive fixe et de contrepoids à la gîte. |
Where the eye mixes quelles and quille
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. quelles runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against quille's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses quelles with quille
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quelles is \kɛl\ while quille is \kij\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
quelles is recorded at frequency rank #1,932, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɛl\. quille is at rank #32,972, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kij\.
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 34904, this pair ranks #280,562 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of quelles vs quille
Shared letters: elqu. Private to "quelles": s. Private to "quille": i.
"quelles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "quille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "quelles" and "quille" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "quelles" vs "quille" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "quelles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "quille" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,562 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "quelles" and "quille" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quille 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 #280,562 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.