infirmièresvsinfirmiersWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,498
“infirmières” frequency rank
#13,618
“infirmiers” frequency rank
23116
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infirmières infirmiers
Definition Féminin pluriel de infirmier. Masculin pluriel de infirmier.

Where the eye mixes infirmières and infirmiers

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

11 ch
infirmières
10 ch
infirmiers

Look-alike desk: infirmières vs infirmiers

A purely visual mix-up. infirmières (\ɛ̃.fiʁ.mjɛʁ\) and infirmiers (\ɛ̃.fiʁ.mje\) 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 23116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infirmières is recorded at frequency rank #9,498, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fiʁ.mjɛʁ\. 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 23116, this pair ranks #354,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of infirmières vs infirmiers

Shared letters: efimnrs. Private to "infirmières": è. Private to "infirmiers": -.

"infirmières" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCVC  ·  "infirmiers" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • infirmiers ← ifnirmiers · inffirmiers · infimriers · infirimers · infirmeirs · infirmierrs · infirmierss · infirmiesr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "infirmières" for "infirmiers" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.fiʁ.mjɛʁ\ versus \ɛ̃.fiʁ.mje\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "infirmières" vs "infirmiers" - which ranks higher?
"infirmières" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,498 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "infirmières" 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 #354,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infirmières" and "infirmiers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infirmer vs infirmiers". 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 #354,260 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