Which to use
“incidence” and “indigence” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,338
- “incidence” frequency rank
- #49,150
- “indigence” frequency rank
- 59488
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | incidence | indigence |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rencontre d’une ligne ou d’une surface avec une autre ligne ou surface, la concurrence étant l’incidence spéciale ligne sur ligne. | Grande pauvreté ; privation du nécessaire. |
Where the eye mixes incidence and indigence
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. incidence and indigence follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between incidence and indigence
A purely visual mix-up. incidence (\ɛ̃.si.dɑ̃s\) and indigence (\ɛ̃.di.ʒɑ̃s\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59488, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
incidence is recorded at frequency rank #10,338, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.si.dɑ̃s\. indigence is at rank #49,150, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.di.ʒɑ̃s\.
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 59488, this pair ranks #102,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of incidence vs indigence
Shared letters: cdein. Private to "incidence": -. Private to "indigence": g.
"incidence" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV · "indigence" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "incidence" and "indigence" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "incidence" or "indigence"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "incidence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "indigence" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #102,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "incidence" and "indigence" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indigence vs indigents". 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 #102,848 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.