informelvsinformésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: informel is a adjective, informés is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“informel” is an adjective and “informés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,900
“informel” frequency rank
#10,722
“informés” frequency rank
33622
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature informel informés
Definition Désigne une forme de peinture non figurative. Participe passé masculin pluriel de informer.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
informel
8 ch
informés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: informel is \ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mɛl\ while informés is \ɛ̃.fɔʁ.me\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

informel is recorded at frequency rank #22,900, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mɛl\. informés is at rank #10,722, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.fɔʁ.me\.

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 33622, this pair ranks #289,408 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of informel vs informés

Shared letters: fimnor. Private to "informel": el. Private to "informés": .

"informel" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "informés" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • informelifnormel · infformel · infomrel · inforeml · informell · informle · informmel · inforrmel

Frequency comparison

informel#22,900
informés#10,722

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "informel" and "informés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "informel" is an adjective and "informés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "informel" or "informés"?
"informés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,722 in our French list, against #22,900 for "informel". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering informel vs informés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “informel”; for a verb, it's “informés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “informel” 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