infectevsinfectéeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,305
“infecte” frequency rank
#27,484
“infectée” frequency rank
60789
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infecte infectée
Definition Féminin singulier de infect. Féminin singulier de infecté.

Where the eye mixes infecte and infectée

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

7 ch
infecte
8 ch
infectée

Look-alike desk: infecte vs infectée

A purely visual mix-up. infecte (\ɛ̃.fɛkt\) and infectée (\ɛ̃.fɛk.te\) 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 60789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infecte is recorded at frequency rank #33,305, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fɛkt\. infectée is at rank #27,484, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fɛk.te\.

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 60789, this pair ranks #95,753 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of infecte vs infectée

Shared letters: cefint. Private to "infecte": -. Private to "infectée": é.

"infecte" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "infectée" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • infecte ← ifnecte · inefcte · infcete · infeccte · infecet · infectte · infetce · inffecte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "infecte" and "infectée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.fɛkt\ versus \ɛ̃.fɛk.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "infecte" vs "infectée" - which ranks higher?
"infectée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,484 in our French list, against #33,305 for "infecte". 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 "infecte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "infectée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #95,753 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infecte" and "infectée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infecte vs injectée". 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 #95,753 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