infectéevsinfecterConfusable pair

Quick tell: infectée is a adjective, infecter is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“infectée” is an adjective and “infecter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,484
“infectée” frequency rank
#34,134
“infecter” frequency rank
61618
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infectée infecter
Definition Féminin singulier de infecté. Gâter, inoculer des germes contagieux.

Same sound, different letters: infectée vs infecter

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. infectée (VCCVCCVV) and infecter (VCCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
infectée
8 ch
infecter

Homophone desk: infectée vs infecter

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: infectée and infecter carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛ̃.fɛk.te\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61618, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infectée is recorded at frequency rank #27,484, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fɛk.te\. infecter is at rank #34,134, tagged as averb, 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 61618, this pair ranks #91,312 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of infectée vs infecter

Shared letters: cefint. Private to "infectée": é. Private to "infecter": r.

"infectée" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV  ·  "infecter" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • infecter ← ifnecter · inefcter · infceter · infeccter · infecetr · infecterr · infectre · infectter

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "infectée" and "infecter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "infectée" is an adjective and "infecter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "infectée" or "infecter"?
"infectée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,484 in our French list, against #34,134 for "infecter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "infectée" / "infecter". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "infectée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "infecter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #91,312 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infectée" and "infecter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infecter 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 #91,312 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