incurablevsingérableConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#25,365
“incurable” frequency rank
#39,352
“ingérable” frequency rank
64717
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature incurable ingérable
Definition Qui ne peut être guéri. Que l’on ne peut gérer.

Where the eye mixes incurable and ingérable

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
incurable
9 ch
ingérable

Why the eye confuses incurable with ingérable

A purely visual mix-up. incurable (\ɛ̃.ky.ʁabl\) and ingérable (\ɛ̃.ʒe.ʁabl\) 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 64717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

incurable is recorded at frequency rank #25,365, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.ky.ʁabl\. ingérable is at rank #39,352, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.ʒe.ʁabl\.

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 64717, this pair ranks #75,683 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of incurable vs ingérable

Shared letters: abeilnr. Private to "incurable": cu. Private to "ingérable": .

"incurable" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV  ·  "ingérable" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • incurableicnurable · inccurable · incruable · incuarble · incurabble · incurabel · incurablle · incuralbe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "incurable" and "ingérable" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.ky.ʁabl\ versus \ɛ̃.ʒe.ʁabl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "incurable" or "ingérable"?
"incurable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,365 in our French list, against #39,352 for "ingérable". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "incurable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ingérable" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,683 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "incurable" and "ingérable" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ingérable vs intenable". 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 #75,683 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