Which to use
“infâme” is an adjective and “infant” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,738
- “infâme” frequency rank
- #38,860
- “infant” frequency rank
- 56598
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | infâme | infant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a mauvaise réputation, qui est célèbre en mauvaise part (sens étymologique). | Titre qu’on donnait aux enfants puînés des rois d’Espagne et du Portugal ainsi qu’à ceux du duc de Parme. |
Where the eye mixes infâme and infant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. infâme (VCCVCV) and infant (VCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: infâme vs infant
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: infâme is \ɛ̃.fɑm\ while infant is \ɛ̃.fɑ̃\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
infâme is recorded at frequency rank #17,738, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fɑm\. infant is at rank #38,860, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.fɑ̃\.
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 56598, this pair ranks #120,084 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of infâme vs infant
Shared letters: fin. Private to "infâme": emâ. Private to "infant": at.
"infâme" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "infant" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- infant ← ifnant · inafnt · infannt · infantt · infatn · inffant · infnat · innfant
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "infâme" for "infant" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "infâme" or "infant" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "infâme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "infant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #120,084 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "infâme" and "infant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infant vs infante". 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 #120,084 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.