infecciónvsinfracciónTell them apart

Which to use

“infección” and “infracción” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,547
“infección” frequency rank
#10,355
“infracción” frequency rank
16902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infección infracción
Definition Acción o efecto de infectar o de infectarse. Quebrantamiento o transgresión de una norma o ley.

Where the eye mixes infección and infracción

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. infección runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVVC) against infracción's 10 (VCCCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
infección
10 ch
infracción

Visual trap between infección and infracción

A purely visual mix-up. infección ([ĩɱfekˈsjõn]) and infracción ([ĩɱfɾakˈsjõn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infección is recorded at frequency rank #6,547, classified as anoun, pronounced [ĩɱfekˈsjõn]. infracción is at rank #10,355, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ĩɱfɾakˈsjõn].

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 16902, this pair ranks #274,338 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of infección vs infracción

Shared letters: cfinó. Private to "infección": e. Private to "infracción": ar.

"infección" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC  ·  "infracción" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "infección" for "infracción" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩɱfekˈsjõn] versus [ĩɱfɾakˈsjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "infección" or "infracción"?
"infección" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,547 in our Spanish list, against #10,355 for "infracción". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "infección" and "infracción" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "infección" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "infracción" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #274,338 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infección" and "infracción" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infección vs infecciosa". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #274,338 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list