infirmiervsinfirmiersConfusable pair

Quick tell: infirmier is a noun, infirmiers is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“infirmier” is a noun and “infirmiers” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,406
“infirmier” frequency rank
#13,618
“infirmiers” frequency rank
27024
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infirmier infirmiers
Definition Celui qui soigne et sert les malades dans une infirmerie, dans un hôpital, dans une ambulance. Masculin pluriel de infirmier.

Same sound, different letters: infirmier vs infirmiers

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. infirmier runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVVC) against infirmiers's 10 (VCCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
infirmier
10 ch
infirmiers

Homophone desk: infirmier vs infirmiers

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: infirmier and infirmiers carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛ̃.fiʁ.mje\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “infirmier” sits inside “infirmiers”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27024, 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\. infirmiers is at rank #13,618, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fiʁ.mje\.

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 27024, this pair ranks #331,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of infirmier vs infirmiers

Shared letters: efimnr. Private to "infirmier": -. Private to "infirmiers": s.

"infirmier" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC  ·  "infirmiers" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • infirmier ← ifnirmier · inffirmier · infimrier · infirimer · infirmeir · infirmierr · infirmire · infirmmier
  • infirmiers ← ifnirmiers · inffirmiers · infimriers · infirimers · infirmeirs · infirmierrs · infirmierss · infirmiesr

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "infirmier" and "infirmiers" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "infirmier" is a noun and "infirmiers" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "infirmier" or "infirmiers" show up more?
"infirmier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,406 in our French list, against #13,618 for "infirmiers". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"infirmier" and "infirmiers" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "infirmier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "infirmiers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #331,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infirmier" and "infirmiers" 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 #331,484 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