infectevsinfectéesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#33,305
“infecte” frequency rank
#28,997
“infectées” frequency rank
62302
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infecte infectées
Definition Féminin singulier de infect. Féminin pluriel de infecté.

Where the eye mixes infecte and infectées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. infecte runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against infectées's 9 (VCCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
infecte
9 ch
infectées

Look-alike desk: infecte vs infectées

A purely visual mix-up. infecte (\ɛ̃.fɛkt\) and infectées (\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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62302, 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\. infectées is at rank #28,997, 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 62302, this pair ranks #87,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of infecte vs infectées

Shared letters: cefint. Private to "infecte": -. Private to "infectées": sé.

"infecte" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "infectées" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "infecte" for "infectées" ever safe?
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.
Which is more common, "infecte" or "infectées"?
"infectées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,997 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "infecte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "infectées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #87,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infecte" and "infectées" 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 #87,837 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