Which to use
“enfant” is a noun and “enfin” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #433
- “enfant” frequency rank
- #280
- “enfin” frequency rank
- 713
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | enfant | enfin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Garçon ou fille qui n’a pas encore atteint l’adolescence. | À la fin ; après un long temps ; après une longue attente. |
Where the eye mixes enfant and enfin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses enfant with enfin
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enfant is \ɑ̃.fɑ̃\ while enfin is \ɑ̃.fɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 713, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
enfant is recorded at frequency rank #433, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.fɑ̃\. enfin is at rank #280, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ɑ̃.fɛ̃\.
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 713, this pair ranks #439,238 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of enfant vs enfin
Shared letters: efn. Private to "enfant": at. Private to "enfin": i.
"enfant" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "enfin" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "enfant" and "enfin" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "enfant" or "enfin"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "enfant" and "enfin" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "enfant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "enfin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,238 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "enfant" and "enfin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enfin vs enflé". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #439,238 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.