Which to use
“subtile” and “subtils” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,159
- “subtile” frequency rank
- #27,979
- “subtils” frequency rank
- 42138
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | subtile | subtils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de subtil. | Masculin pluriel de subtil. |
Same sound, different letters: subtile vs subtils
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - subtile and subtils
This is the hard kind. subtile 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 a single letter - e in “subtile” becomes s in “subtils”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42138, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
subtile is recorded at frequency rank #14,159, 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 42138, this pair ranks #227,929 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of subtile vs subtils
Shared letters: bilstu. Private to "subtile": e. Private to "subtils": -.
"subtile" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "subtils" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "subtile" and "subtils" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "subtile" vs "subtils" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
"subtile" and "subtils" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "subtile" 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 #227,929 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "subtile" 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 #227,929 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.