infimevsinfimesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,164
“infime” frequency rank
#37,870
“infimes” frequency rank
55034
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infime infimes
Definition Qui est placé le plus bas. Pluriel de infime.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set infime and infimes apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
infime
7 ch
infimes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. infime and infimes are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.fim\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “infime” sits inside “infimes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55034, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infime is recorded at frequency rank #17,164, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fim\. infimes is at rank #37,870, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fim\.

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 55034, this pair ranks #130,087 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of infime vs infimes

Shared letters: efimn. Private to "infime": -. Private to "infimes": s.

"infime" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "infimes" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • infimeifnime · inffime · infiem · infimme · infmie · inifme · innfime · nifime
  • infimesifnimes · inffimes · infiems · infimess · infimmes · infimse · infmies · inifmes

Frequency comparison

infime#17,164
infimes#37,870

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "infime" and "infimes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɛ̃.fim\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "infime" or "infimes"?
"infime" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,164 in our French list, against #37,870 for "infimes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering infime vs infimes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “infime” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list