Which to use
“infâme” and “infirme” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,738
- “infâme” frequency rank
- #26,053
- “infirme” frequency rank
- 43791
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | infâme | infirme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a mauvaise réputation, qui est célèbre en mauvaise part (sens étymologique). | Qui est affecté d’une infirmité ou d’infirmités. |
Where the eye mixes infâme and infirme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. infâme runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against infirme's 7 (VCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses infâme with infirme
A purely visual mix-up. infâme (\ɛ̃.fɑm\) and infirme (\ɛ̃.fiʁm\) 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 43791, 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\. infirme is at rank #26,053, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fiʁm\.
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 43791, this pair ranks #215,372 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of infâme vs infirme
Shared letters: efimn. Private to "infâme": â. Private to "infirme": r.
"infâme" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "infirme" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- infirme ← ifnirme · inffirme · infimre · infirem · infirmme · infirrme · infrime · inifrme
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "infâme" and "infirme" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "infâme" or "infirme" 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 "infirme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,372 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "infâme" and "infirme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infirme vs infirmité". 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 #215,372 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.