infernal

\ɛ̃.fɛʁ.nal\

/\ɛ̃.fɛʁ.nal\/ adj

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

The verdict

“infernal” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #19,873. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#19,873
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui appartient à l’enfer.

Corpus desk

Index FR-infernal · infernal · French

infernal · rank #19,873 · 12 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #19,873
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH injures

Nearest frequency peer: injures (+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 « infernal »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « infernal » 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).

infernal vs internat
75% similar
infernal vs infernale
89% similar
infernal vs infernales
80% similar

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

Key facts for infernal
PropertyValue
Headwordinfernal
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɛ̃.fɛʁ.nal\
Letters8
Frequency rank#19,873
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « infernal »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).infernalse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « injures » (#19,874), « infarctus » (#19,871), « insuline » (#19,875). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « infernal » est au #19,873. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around infernal (IPA \ɛ̃.fɛʁ.nal\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #19,873 among 3,561 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for infernal, with forms such as "ifnernal", "inefrnal", and "infenral". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "internat", "infernale", "infernales", 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, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is infernal, spelled I-N-F-E-R-N-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui appartient à l’enfer.
  2. 2
    Qui est digne de l'enfer ; qui le rappelle.
  3. 3
    Qui fait un bruit discordant, démoniaque.
  4. 4
    Qui dénote beaucoup de méchanceté, de noirceur, de cruauté.
  5. 5
    Qualifie une personne turbulente, agitée, une personne qui nous fait vivre l'enfer

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Que nous vivons entre deux mondes invisibles, peuplés, l’un d’esprits infernaux, l’autre d’esprits célestes ; […].
  2. Teutatès, Tut-tat, père des hommes. […]. César a cru reconnaître en lui, Dis, dieu des enfers ou Pluton ; mais César ne savait pas que les Gaulois n'avaient point d’enfer, et, par conséquent, pas de dieux infernaux.

This word in other languages

infernal(English)infernal(Español)infernal(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ifnernal
  • inefrnal
  • infenral
  • inferanl
  • infernall
  • infernla
  • infernnal
  • inferrnal
  • inffernal
  • infrenal
  • innfernal
  • nifernal

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ifnernal2inefrnal2infenral2inferanl2infernall1infernla2infernnal1inferrnal1
Edit distance from "infernal"

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 "infernal"?
"infernal" is spelled I-N-F-E-R-N-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.fɛʁ.nal\.
What does "infernal" mean?
As an adjective, "infernal" means: Qui appartient à l’enfer.
What words are commonly confused with "infernal"?
"infernal" is commonly confused with "internat", "infernale", "infernales". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "infernal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "infernal" is \ɛ̃.fɛʁ.nal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "infernal" come from?
"infernal" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "infernal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

insuline#19,875inversée#19,879incarnée#19,865lobbying#19,897

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

Jefferson12 variantsmontante12 variantsobtenant12 variantsdétenues12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list