indécencevsingérenceConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#32,854
“indécence” frequency rank
#16,393
“ingérence” frequency rank
49247
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indécence ingérence
Definition Caractère de ce qui est indécent. Action de s’ingérer.

Where the eye mixes indécence and ingérence

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. indécence and ingérence follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
indécence
9 ch
ingérence

Look-alike desk: indécence vs ingérence

A purely visual mix-up. indécence (\ɛ̃.de.sɑ̃s\) and ingérence (\ɛ̃.ʒe.ʁɑ̃s\) 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 49247, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indécence is recorded at frequency rank #32,854, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.de.sɑ̃s\. ingérence is at rank #16,393, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.ʒe.ʁɑ̃s\.

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 49247, this pair ranks #172,201 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indécence vs ingérence

Shared letters: ceiné. Private to "indécence": d. Private to "ingérence": gr.

"indécence" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV  ·  "ingérence" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "indécence" and "ingérence" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.de.sɑ̃s\ versus \ɛ̃.ʒe.ʁɑ̃s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "indécence" or "ingérence" show up more?
"ingérence" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,393 in our French list, against #32,854 for "indécence". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "indécence" and "ingérence" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "indécence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ingérence" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #172,201 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indécence" and "ingérence" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indécence vs indigence". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #172,201 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