Which to use
“infection” and “infections” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,204
- “infection” frequency rank
- #12,594
- “infections” frequency rank
- 18798
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | infection | infections |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Décomposition organique produite par des germes infectieux. | Pluriel de infection. |
Same sound, different letters: infection vs infections
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. infection runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVVC) against infections's 10 (VCCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - infection and infections
This is the hard kind. infection and infections are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.fɛk.sjɔ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “infection” sits inside “infections”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18798, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
infection is recorded at frequency rank #6,204, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.fɛk.sjɔ̃\. infections is at rank #12,594, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.fɛk.sjɔ̃\.
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 18798, this pair ranks #376,523 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of infection vs infections
Shared letters: cefinot. Private to "infection": -. Private to "infections": s.
"infection" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "infections" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- infection ← ifnection · inefction · infcetion · infecction · infeciton · infectino · infectionn · infectoin
- infections ← ifnections · inefctions · infcetions · infecctions · infecitons · infectinos · infectionns · infectionss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "infection" for "infections" ever safe?
Which is more common, "infection" or "infections"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "infection" / "infections". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "infection" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "infections" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #376,523 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "infection" and "infections" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inception vs infection". 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 #376,523 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.