Which to use
“sil” and “spoil” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,575
- “sil” frequency rank
- #32,201
- “spoil” frequency rank
- 52776
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sil | spoil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Argile, variété d’ocre, dont les Anciens faisaient des poteries rouges ou jaunes. | Fait de dévoiler à l’avance ou divulguer prématurément un élément clé de l’intrigue d’une œuvre de fiction. |
Where the eye mixes sil and spoil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sil runs 3 letters (CVC) against spoil's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: sil vs spoil
A purely visual mix-up. sil (\sil\) and spoil (\spɔjl\) 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 52776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sil is recorded at frequency rank #20,575, classified as anoun, pronounced \sil\. spoil is at rank #32,201, tagged as anoun, pronounced \spɔjl\.
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 52776, this pair ranks #145,380 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sil vs spoil
Shared letters: ils. Private to "sil": -. Private to "spoil": op.
"sil" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "spoil" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- spoil ← psoil · sopil · spiol · spoill · spoli · sppoil · sspoil
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sil" for "spoil" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sil" vs "spoil" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spoil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #145,380 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sil" and "spoil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spi vs spoil". 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 #145,380 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.