inexactevsintacteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,508
“inexacte” frequency rank
#16,157
“intacte” frequency rank
60665
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inexacte intacte
Definition Féminin singulier de 'inexact. Féminin singulier de intact.

Where the eye mixes inexacte and intacte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. inexacte runs 8 letters (VCVCVCCV) against intacte's 7 (VCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
inexacte
7 ch
intacte

Visual trap between inexacte and intacte

A purely visual mix-up. inexacte (\i.nɛɡ.zakt\) and intacte (\ɛ̃.takt\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inexacte is recorded at frequency rank #44,508, classified as anadj, pronounced \i.nɛɡ.zakt\. intacte is at rank #16,157, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.takt\.

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 60665, this pair ranks #96,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of inexacte vs intacte

Shared letters: aceint. Private to "inexacte": x. Private to "intacte": -.

"inexacte" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV  ·  "intacte" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inexacte ← ienxacte · ineaxcte · inexaccte · inexacet · inexactte · inexatce · inexcate · inexxacte
  • intacte ← inatcte · inntacte · intaccte · intacet · intactte · intatce · intcate · inttacte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "inexacte" for "intacte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\i.nɛɡ.zakt\ versus \ɛ̃.takt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "inexacte" or "intacte"?
"intacte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,157 in our French list, against #44,508 for "inexacte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "inexacte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intacte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #96,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "inexacte" and "intacte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inexacte vs inexactes". 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 #96,434 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