incompétent

\ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃\

/\ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃\/ adj

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

The verdict

“incompétent” has 18 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #20,761. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#20,761
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
18
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui n’est pas compétent.

Corpus desk

Index FR-incompetent · incompétent · French

incompétent · rank #20,761 · 18 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #20,761
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 18 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH inaugure

Nearest frequency peer: inaugure (-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 « incompétent »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « incompétent » 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).

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

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

Key facts for incompétent
PropertyValue
Headwordincompétent
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃\
Letters11
Frequency rank#20,761
Misspellings tracked18
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « incompétent »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).incompétentse 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 « inaugure » (#20,760), « Ingrid » (#20,762), « imposait » (#20,759). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « incompétent » est au #20,761. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 18 spelling variants around incompétent (IPA \ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #20,761 among 3,561 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 18 likely wrong-spelling variants for incompétent, with forms such as "icnompétent", "inccompétent", and "incmopétent". 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, "incompétents", "incompétente", "incompétence", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is incompétent, spelled I-N-C-O-M-P-É-T-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui n’est pas compétent.
  2. 2
    Qui n’a pas les connaissances requises pour juger de quelque chose, pour en parler.
  3. 3
    Se dit d’un minéral, d’une roche qui ne se brise pas, mais se déforme sous l’effet des contraintes tectoniques. → voir incompétence

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le tribunal s’est déclaré incompétent.
  2. Il est incompétent pour connaître de cette affaire.

This word in other languages

incompetent(English)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • icnompétent
  • inccompétent
  • incmopétent
  • incommpétent
  • incompetent
  • incomppétent
  • incomptéent
  • incompéetnt
  • incompétennt
  • incompétentt
  • incompétetn
  • incompétnet
  • incompéttent
  • incoméptent
  • incopmétent
  • inncompétent
  • inocmpétent
  • nicompétent

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of incompétent - 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.

icnompétent2inccompétent1incmopétent2incommpétent1incompetent1incomppétent1incomptéent2incompéetnt2
Edit distance from "incompétent"

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 "incompétent"?
"incompétent" is spelled I-N-C-O-M-P-É-T-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃\.
What does "incompétent" mean?
As an adjective, "incompétent" means: Qui n’est pas compétent.
What words are commonly confused with "incompétent"?
"incompétent" is commonly confused with "incompétents", "incompétente", "incompétence". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "incompétent"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "incompétent" is \ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "incompétent" come from?
"incompétent" 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 "incompétent", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mentionnent#20,787envahissent#20,712possédaient#20,820poursuivait#20,821

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (18 here; floor ≥5).

insignifiant18 variantspaisiblement18 variantscomprenaient18 variantssélectionnées18 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list