infantryvsinfantsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“infantry” and “infants” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,569
“infantry” frequency rank
#10,226
“infants” frequency rank
17795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infantry infants
Definition Soldiers who fight on foot (on land), as opposed to cavalry and other mounted units, regardless of external transport (e.g. airborne). plural of infant

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set infantry and infants apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
infantry
7 ch
infants

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

infantry and infants are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infantry is recorded at frequency rank #7,569, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪnfəntɹi/. infants is at rank #10,226, tagged as anoun.

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 17795, this pair ranks #449,072 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of infantry vs infants

Shared letters: afint. Private to "infantry": ry. Private to "infants": s.

"infantry" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV  ·  "infants" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • infantryifnantry · inafntry · infanntry · infanrty · infantrry · infantryy · infanttry · infantyr
  • infantsifnants · inafnts · infannts · infanst · infantss · infantts · infatns · inffants

Frequency comparison

infantry#7,569
infants#10,226

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "infantry" and "infants" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "infantry" or "infants"?
"infantry" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,569 in our English list, against #10,226 for "infants". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering infantry vs infants

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “infantry” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list