Which to use
“infâme” and “infimes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,738
- “infâme” frequency rank
- #37,870
- “infimes” frequency rank
- 55608
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | infâme | infimes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a mauvaise réputation, qui est célèbre en mauvaise part (sens étymologique). | Pluriel de infime. |
Where the eye mixes infâme and infimes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. infâme runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against infimes's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: infâme vs infimes
A purely visual mix-up. infâme (\ɛ̃.fɑm\) and infimes (\ɛ̃.fim\) 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 55608, 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\. infimes is at rank #37,870, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fim\.
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 55608, this pair ranks #126,381 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of infâme vs infimes
Shared letters: efimn. Private to "infâme": â. Private to "infimes": s.
"infâme" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "infimes" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- infimes ← ifnimes · inffimes · infiems · infimess · infimmes · infimse · infmies · inifmes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "infâme" and "infimes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "infâme" or "infimes" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "infâme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "infimes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #126,381 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "infâme" and "infimes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "incités vs infimes". 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 #126,381 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.