enfersvsenflerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: enfers is a noun, enfler is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“enfers” is a noun and “enfler” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,031
“enfers” frequency rank
#38,784
“enfler” frequency rank
52815
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enfers enfler
Definition Pluriel de enfer. Augmenter un corps de volume ; gonfler.

Where the eye mixes enfers and enfler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. enfers (VCCVCC) and enfler (VCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
enfers
6 ch
enfler

Visual trap between enfers and enfler

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enfers is \ɑ̃.fɛʁ\ while enfler is \ɑ̃.fle\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enfers is recorded at frequency rank #14,031, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.fɛʁ\. enfler is at rank #38,784, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.fle\.

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 52815, this pair ranks #145,084 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enfers vs enfler

Shared letters: efnr. Private to "enfers": s. Private to "enfler": l.

"enfers" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "enfler" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enfersefners · enefrs · enferrs · enferss · enfesr · enffers · enfres · ennfers
  • enflerefnler · enfelr · enffler · enflerr · enfller · enflre · enlfer · ennfler

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "enfers" and "enfler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enfers" is a noun and "enfler" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "enfers" or "enfler"?
"enfers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,031 in our French list, against #38,784 for "enfler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "enfers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enfler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #145,084 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enfers" and "enfler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enflé vs enfler". 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 #145,084 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list