inflammablevsinflammablesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#32,857
“inflammable” frequency rank
#46,818
“inflammables” frequency rank
79675
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inflammable inflammables
Definition Qui s’enflamme facilement, qui prend rapidement feu. Pluriel de inflammable.

Same sound, different letters: inflammable vs inflammables

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters. inflammable runs 11 letters (VCCCVCCVCCV) against inflammables's 12 (VCCCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
inflammable
12 ch
inflammables

Ear matches; page differs - inflammable and inflammables

This is the hard kind. inflammable and inflammables are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.fla.mabl\) 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) - “inflammable” sits inside “inflammables”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inflammable is recorded at frequency rank #32,857, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fla.mabl\. inflammables is at rank #46,818, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fla.mabl\.

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 79675, this pair ranks #22,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of inflammable vs inflammables

Shared letters: abefilmn. Private to "inflammable": -. Private to "inflammables": s.

"inflammable" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCCVCCV  ·  "inflammables" · 12 letters · shape VCCCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inflammable ← ifnlammable · infalmmable · infflammable · inflamable · inflamamble · inflammabble · inflammabel · inflammablle
  • inflammables ← ifnlammables · infalmmables · infflammables · inflamables · inflamambles · inflammabbles · inflammabels · inflammabless

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "inflammable" for "inflammables" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɛ̃.fla.mabl\), 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, "inflammable" or "inflammables"?
"inflammable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,857 in our French list, against #46,818 for "inflammables". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "inflammable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inflammables" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • 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 #22,732 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