Which to use
“indécence” and “innocence” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,854
- “indécence” frequency rank
- #7,075
- “innocence” frequency rank
- 39929
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | indécence | innocence |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Caractère de ce qui est indécent. | État de celui qui n’est pas coupable. |
Where the eye mixes indécence and innocence
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. indécence and innocence follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses indécence with innocence
A purely visual mix-up. indécence (\ɛ̃.de.sɑ̃s\) and innocence (\i.nɔ.sɑ̃s\) 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 39929, 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\. innocence is at rank #7,075, tagged as anoun, pronounced \i.nɔ.sɑ̃s\.
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 39929, this pair ranks #244,313 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of indécence vs innocence
Shared letters: cein. Private to "indécence": dé. Private to "innocence": o.
"indécence" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV · "innocence" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- innocence ← inncoence · innoccence · innocecne · innocencce · innocenec · innocennce · innocnece · innoecnce
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "indécence" for "innocence" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "indécence" or "innocence" show up more?
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 "indécence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "innocence" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #244,313 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "indécence" and "innocence" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indécence vs indigence". 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 #244,313 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.