Which to use
“incite” and “incités” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,178
- “incite” frequency rank
- #43,989
- “incités” frequency rank
- 54167
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | incite | incités |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de inciter. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de inciter. |
Where the eye mixes incite and incités
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. incite runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against incités's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: incite vs incités
A purely visual mix-up. incite (\ɛ̃.sit\) and incités (\ɛ̃.si.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
incite is recorded at frequency rank #10,178, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.sit\. incités is at rank #43,989, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.si.te\.
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 54167, this pair ranks #135,807 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of incite vs incités
Shared letters: cint. Private to "incite": e. Private to "incités": sé.
"incite" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "incités" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- incite ← icnite · inccite · inciet · incitte · inctie · inicte · inncite · nicite
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "incite" for "incités" ever safe?
Which is more common, "incite" or "incités"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "incite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "incités" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #135,807 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "incite" and "incités" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inaptes 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 #135,807 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.