inégalevsintégraleTell them apart

Quick tell: inégale is a adjective, intégrale is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#25,018
“inégale” frequency rank
#7,199
“intégrale” frequency rank
32217
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inégale intégrale
Definition Féminin singulier de inégal. Intégrale d’une fonction f à valeurs réelles et continue sur un segment [a,b] : Valeur de l’aire algébrique du domaine délimité par l’axe des abscisses et la courbe représentative de f et les droites verticales d’équations x=a et x=b.

Where the eye mixes inégale and intégrale

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. inégale runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against intégrale's 9 (VCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
inégale
9 ch
intégrale

Look-alike desk: inégale vs intégrale

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: inégale is \i.ne.ɡal\ while intégrale is \ɛ̃.te.ɡʁal\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32217, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inégale is recorded at frequency rank #25,018, classified as anadj, pronounced \i.ne.ɡal\. intégrale is at rank #7,199, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.te.ɡʁal\.

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 32217, this pair ranks #298,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of inégale vs intégrale

Shared letters: aegilné. Private to "inégale": -. Private to "intégrale": rt.

"inégale" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "intégrale" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "inégale" for "intégrale" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "inégale" is an adjective and "intégrale" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "inégale" or "intégrale"?
"intégrale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,199 in our French list, against #25,018 for "inégale". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "inégale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intégrale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #298,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "inégale" and "intégrale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inégale vs inégaux". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #298,728 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