incitevsinclueWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“incite” and “inclue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,178
“incite” frequency rank
#38,359
“inclue” frequency rank
48537
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature incite inclue
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de inciter. Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de inclure.

Where the eye mixes incite and inclue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. incite (VCCVCV) and inclue (VCCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
incite
6 ch
inclue

Visual trap between incite and inclue

A purely visual mix-up. incite (\ɛ̃.sit\) and inclue (\ɛ̃.kly\) 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 48537, 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\. inclue is at rank #38,359, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.kly\.

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 48537, this pair ranks #178,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of incite vs inclue

Shared letters: cein. Private to "incite": t. Private to "inclue": lu.

"incite" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "inclue" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • incite ← icnite · inccite · inciet · incitte · inctie · inicte · inncite · nicite
  • inclue ← icnlue · incclue · incleu · incllue · incule · inlcue · innclue · niclue

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "incite" and "inclue" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.sit\ versus \ɛ̃.kly\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "incite" or "inclue" show up more?
"incite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,178 in our French list, against #38,359 for "inclue". 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 "incite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inclue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #178,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "incite" and "inclue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inclue vs income". 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 #178,133 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