Which to use
“incompétent” and “incompétents” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,761
- “incompétent” frequency rank
- #27,482
- “incompétents” frequency rank
- 48243
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | incompétent | incompétents |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas compétent. | Masculin pluriel de incompétent. |
Same sound, different letters: incompétent vs incompétents
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters. incompétent runs 11 letters (VCCVCCVCVCC) against incompétents's 12 (VCCVCCVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - incompétent / incompétents
This is the hard kind. incompétent and incompétents are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “incompétent” sits inside “incompétents”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48243, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
incompétent is recorded at frequency rank #20,761, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃\. incompétents is at rank #27,482, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃\.
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 48243, this pair ranks #180,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of incompétent vs incompétents
Shared letters: ceimnopté. Private to "incompétent": -. Private to "incompétents": s.
"incompétent" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVCC · "incompétents" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVCCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "incompétent" and "incompétents" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "incompétent" or "incompétents"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "incompétent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "incompétents" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #180,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "incompétent" and "incompétents" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "incompétente vs incompétents". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #180,484 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.