incitevsinviterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,178
“incite” frequency rank
#5,775
“inviter” frequency rank
15953
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature incite inviter
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de inciter. Convier, prier de se trouver, de se rendre quelque part, d’assister à quelque cérémonie, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set incite and inviter apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
incite
7 ch
inviter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. incite (\ɛ̃.sit\) and inviter (\ɛ̃.vi.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 15953, 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\. inviter is at rank #5,775, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.vi.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 15953, this pair ranks #390,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of incite vs inviter

Shared letters: eint. Private to "incite": c. Private to "inviter": rv.

"incite" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "inviter" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inciteicnite · inccite · inciet · incitte · inctie · inicte · inncite · nicite
  • inviterinivter · innviter · invietr · inviterr · invitre · invitter · invtier · invviter

Frequency comparison

incite#10,178
inviter#5,775

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "incite" and "inviter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.sit\ versus \ɛ̃.vi.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "incite" or "inviter"?
"inviter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,775 in our French list, against #10,178 for "incite". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering incite vs inviter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “incite” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list