Which to use
“incident” is an adjective and “incitent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,243
- “incident” frequency rank
- #24,633
- “incitent” frequency rank
- 28876
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | incident | incitent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui survient accessoirement dans une affaire. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de inciter. |
Where the eye mixes incident and incitent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. incident and incitent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between incident and incitent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: incident is \ɛ̃.si.dɑ̃\ while incitent is \ɛ̃.sit\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “incident” becomes t in “incitent”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28876, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
incident is recorded at frequency rank #4,243, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.si.dɑ̃\. incitent is at rank #24,633, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.sit\.
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 28876, this pair ranks #320,112 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of incident vs incitent
Shared letters: ceint. Private to "incident": d. Private to "incitent": -.
"incident" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC · "incitent" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "incident" and "incitent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "incident" or "incitent"?
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 "incident" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "incitent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #320,112 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "incident" and "incitent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "incitent vs incités". 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 #320,112 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.