infectionsvsinspectionsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,594
“infections” frequency rank
#26,062
“inspections” frequency rank
38656
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infections inspections
Definition Pluriel de infection. Pluriel de inspection.

Where the eye mixes infections and inspections

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. infections runs 10 letters (VCCVCCVVCC) against inspections's 11 (VCCCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
infections
11 ch
inspections

Visual trap between infections and inspections

A purely visual mix-up. infections (\ɛ̃.fɛk.sjɔ̃\) and inspections (\ɛ̃s.pɛk.sjɔ̃\) 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 38656, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infections is recorded at frequency rank #12,594, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.fɛk.sjɔ̃\. inspections is at rank #26,062, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃s.pɛk.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 38656, this pair ranks #253,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of infections vs inspections

Shared letters: ceinost. Private to "infections": f. Private to "inspections": p.

"infections" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCC  ·  "inspections" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • infections ← ifnections · inefctions · infcetions · infecctions · infecitons · infectinos · infectionns · infectionss
  • inspections ← innspections · inpsections · insepctions · inspcetions · inspecctions · inspecitons · inspectinos · inspectionns

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "infections" for "inspections" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.fɛk.sjɔ̃\ versus \ɛ̃s.pɛk.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "infections" or "inspections"?
"infections" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,594 in our French list, against #26,062 for "inspections". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "infections" and "inspections" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "infections" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inspections" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infections" and "inspections" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "injections vs inspections". 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 #253,732 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