incompétence

\ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃s\

/\ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃s\/ noun

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

The verdict

“incompétence” has 19 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #13,616. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,616
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
19
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Défaut, manque de compétence.

Corpus desk

Index FR-incompetence · incompétence · French

incompétence · rank #13,616 · 19 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,616
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 19 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH indéniable

Nearest frequency peer: indéniable (+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 « incompétence »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « incompétence » 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).

incompétence vs incompétent
83% similar
incompétence vs incompétents
83% similar
incompétence vs incompétente
92% similar

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

Key facts for incompétence
PropertyValue
Headwordincompétence
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃s\
Letters12
Frequency rank#13,616
Misspellings tracked19
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « incompétence »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).incompétencese 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 « indéniable » (#13,617), « impuissance » (#13,614), « infirmiers » (#13,618). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « incompétence » est au #13,616. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 19 spelling variants around incompétence (IPA \ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃s\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #13,616 among 3,561 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 19 likely wrong-spelling variants for incompétence, with forms such as "icnompétence", "inccompétence", and "incmopétence". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "incompétent", "incompétents", "incompétente", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is incompétence, spelled I-N-C-O-M-P-É-T-E-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Défaut, manque de compétence.
  2. 2
    État de celui, celle qui est incompétent.
  3. 3
    Propriété inverse de la compétence.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. L’incompétence d’un tribunal.
  2. L’incompétence est notoire, manifeste.

This word in other languages

incompetence(English)incompetencia(Español)Inkompetenz(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • icnompétence
  • inccompétence
  • incmopétence
  • incommpétence
  • incompetence
  • incomppétence
  • incomptéence
  • incompéetnce
  • incompétecne
  • incompétencce
  • incompétenec
  • incompétennce
  • incompétnece
  • incompéttence
  • incoméptence
  • incopmétence
  • inncompétence
  • inocmpétence
  • nicompétence

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of incompétence - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

icnompétence2inccompétence1incmopétence2incommpétence1incompetence1incomppétence1incomptéence2incompéetnce2
Edit distance from "incompétence"

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 "incompétence"?
"incompétence" is spelled I-N-C-O-M-P-É-T-E-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃s\.
What does "incompétence" mean?
As a noun, "incompétence" means: Défaut, manque de compétence.
What words are commonly confused with "incompétence"?
"incompétence" is commonly confused with "incompétent", "incompétents", "incompétente". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "incompétence"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "incompétence" is \ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "incompétence" come from?
"incompétence" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "incompétence", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cartographie#13,536caractérisée#13,530transparente#13,706affirmations#13,503

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (19 here; floor ≥5).

institutionnel19 variantsconsolidation19 variantsconventionnelle19 variantschronologique19 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list