Which to use
“subtil” and “subtils” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,069
- “subtil” frequency rank
- #27,979
- “subtils” frequency rank
- 40048
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | subtil | subtils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est délié, fin, menu. | Masculin pluriel de subtil. |
Same sound, different letters: subtil vs subtils
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. subtil runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against subtils's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: subtil vs subtils
This is the hard kind. subtil and subtils are pronounced identically (\syp.til\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “subtil” sits inside “subtils”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40048, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
subtil is recorded at frequency rank #12,069, classified as anadj, pronounced \syp.til\. subtils is at rank #27,979, tagged as anadj, pronounced \syp.til\.
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 40048, this pair ranks #243,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of subtil vs subtils
Shared letters: bilstu. Private to "subtil": -. Private to "subtils": -.
"subtil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "subtils" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "subtil" and "subtils" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "subtil" or "subtils"?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "subtil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "subtils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #243,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "subtil" and "subtils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "subtiles vs subtils". 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 #243,434 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.