Which to use
“quelles” is an adjective and “quilles” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,932
- “quelles” frequency rank
- #33,424
- “quilles” frequency rank
- 35356
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | quelles | quilles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de quel. | Bowling. |
Where the eye mixes quelles and quilles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. quelles and quilles follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses quelles with quilles
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quelles is \kɛl\ while quilles is \kij\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “quelles” becomes i in “quilles”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35356, 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\. quilles is at rank #33,424, 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 35356, this pair ranks #277,286 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of quelles vs quilles
Shared letters: elqsu. Private to "quelles": -. Private to "quilles": i.
"quelles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "quilles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "quelles" and "quilles" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "quelles" or "quilles" show up more?
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 "quilles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #277,286 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "quelles" and "quilles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quille vs quilles". 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 #277,286 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.