Which to use
“infirmier” is a noun and “infirmières” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,406
- “infirmier” frequency rank
- #9,498
- “infirmières” frequency rank
- 22904
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | infirmier | infirmières |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui soigne et sert les malades dans une infirmerie, dans un hôpital, dans une ambulance. | Féminin pluriel de infirmier. |
Where the eye mixes infirmier and infirmières
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. infirmier runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVVC) against infirmières's 11 (VCCVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: infirmier vs infirmières
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: infirmier is \ɛ̃.fiʁ.mje\ while infirmières is \ɛ̃.fiʁ.mjɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
infirmier is recorded at frequency rank #13,406, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.fiʁ.mje\. infirmières is at rank #9,498, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fiʁ.mjɛʁ\.
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 22904, this pair ranks #355,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of infirmier vs infirmières
Shared letters: efimnr. Private to "infirmier": -. Private to "infirmières": sè.
"infirmier" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "infirmières" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- infirmier ← ifnirmier · inffirmier · infimrier · infirimer · infirmeir · infirmierr · infirmire · infirmmier
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "infirmier" for "infirmières" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "infirmier" or "infirmières" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "infirmier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "infirmières" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #355,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "infirmier" and "infirmières" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infirmier vs infirmité". 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 #355,463 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.