incapable

\ɛ̃.ka.pabl\

/\ɛ̃.ka.pabl\/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“incapable” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #3,926. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,926
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui n’est pas capable ou qui n’est pas en état de faire une chose.

Corpus desk

Index FR-incapable · incapable · French

incapable · rank #3,926 · 13 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,926
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH ile

Nearest frequency peer: ile (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « incapable »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « incapable » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

incapable vs incurable
78% similar
incapable vs incapables
90% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for incapable
PropertyValue
Headwordincapable
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɛ̃.ka.pabl\
Letters9
Frequency rank#3,926
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « incapable »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.incapablese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « ile » (#3,925), « installations » (#3,927), « guère » (#3,924). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « incapable » est au #3,926. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around incapable (IPA \ɛ̃.ka.pabl\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #3,926 among 3,561 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for incapable, with forms such as "icnapable", "inacpable", and "incaapble". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "incurable", "incapables", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is incapable, spelled I-N-C-A-P-A-B-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui n’est pas capable ou qui n’est pas en état de faire une chose.
  2. 2
    Qui est dans une disposition ou dans une situation qui ne lui permet pas certaines choses.
  3. 3
    Qui n’a pas la capacité, le talent, l’aptitude, l’adresse nécessaire pour certaines choses.
  4. 4
    Qui n’a pas la capacité, le talent, l’aptitude, l’adresse nécessaire pour certaines choses.
  5. 5
    Celui que la loi prive de certains droits ou qu’elle exclut de certaines fonctions.
  6. 6
    Qui n’a pas les qualités et les conditions nécessaires pour quelque chose.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how incapable appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Point besoin de souligner que cette brigade de spahis, […], serait incapable de s’opposer aux chars de la 1ʳᵉ Panzer, quand ceux-ci déboucheraient de la vallée de la Bar et se répandraient dans la dépression de Vendresse au cours de l’après-midi du 14 mai.
  2. — Je suis au fond du trou, dit–il au capitaine. Je suis en manque, je n'ai plus d'argent et je suis bien incapable de trouver un boulot pour en gagner.

Synonyms

incompétent

Antonyms

capable

This word in other languages

incapable(English)incapaz(Español)unfähig(Deutsch)incapaz(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • icnapable
  • inacpable
  • incaapble
  • incapabble
  • incapabel
  • incapablle
  • incapalbe
  • incapbale
  • incappable
  • inccapable
  • incpaable
  • inncapable
  • nicapable

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of incapable - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

icnapable2inacpable2incaapble2incapabble1incapabel2incapablle1incapalbe2incapbale2
Edit distance from "incapable"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "incapable"?
"incapable" is spelled I-N-C-A-P-A-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.ka.pabl\.
What does "incapable" mean?
As an adjective, "incapable" means: Qui n’est pas capable ou qui n’est pas en état de faire une chose.
What words are commonly confused with "incapable"?
"incapable" is commonly confused with "incurable", "incapables". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "incapable"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "incapable" is \ɛ̃.ka.pabl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "incapable" come from?
"incapable" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "incapable", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

favoriser#3,915mentionné#3,940catalogue#3,904partisans#3,951

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

souffrance13 variantsterroriste13 variantssemblant13 variantsscolaires13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list