indexvsinnéeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: index is a noun, innée is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“index” is a noun and “innée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,203
“index” frequency rank
#33,735
“innée” frequency rank
39938
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature index innée
Definition Doigt le plus proche du pouce, parce que c’est celui-là dont on se sert ordinairement pour indiquer, pour montrer quelque chose. Féminin singulier de inné.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set index and innée apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
index
5 ch
innée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: index is \ɛ̃.dɛks\ while innée is \i.ne\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39938, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

index is recorded at frequency rank #6,203, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.dɛks\. innée is at rank #33,735, tagged as anadj, pronounced \i.ne\.

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 39938, this pair ranks #244,251 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of index vs innée

Shared letters: ein. Private to "index": dx. Private to "innée": é.

"index" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "innée" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indexidnex · inddex · indexx · indxe · inedx · inndex · nidex

Frequency comparison

index#6,203
innée#33,735

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "index" and "innée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "index" is a noun and "innée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "index" or "innée"?
"index" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,203 in our French list, against #33,735 for "innée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering index vs innée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “index”; for an adjective, it's “innée”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “index” 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