infectéesvsinfecterConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#28,997
“infectées” frequency rank
#34,134
“infecter” frequency rank
63131
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infectées infecter
Definition Féminin pluriel de infecté. Gâter, inoculer des germes contagieux.

Same sound, different letters: infectées vs infecter

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. infectées runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVVC) against infecter's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
infectées
8 ch
infecter

Ear matches; page differs - infectées and infecter

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: infectées 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infectées is recorded at frequency rank #28,997, 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 63131, this pair ranks #83,600 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of infectées vs infecter

Shared letters: cefint. Private to "infectées": sé. Private to "infecter": r.

"infectées" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC  ·  "infecter" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "infectées" and "infecter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "infectées" is an adjective and "infecter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "infectées" or "infecter"?
"infectées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,997 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 "infectées" / "infecter". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "infectées" 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 #83,600 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infectées" 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 #83,600 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