injonctionsvsintonationsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,246
“injonctions” frequency rank
#49,735
“intonations” frequency rank
72981
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature injonctions intonations
Definition Pluriel de injonction. Pluriel de intonation.

Where the eye mixes injonctions and intonations

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. injonctions (VCCVCCCVVCC) and intonations (VCCVCVCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
injonctions
11 ch
intonations

Look-alike desk: injonctions vs intonations

A purely visual mix-up. injonctions (\ɛ̃.ʒɔ̃k.sjɔ̃\) and intonations (\ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

injonctions is recorded at frequency rank #23,246, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.ʒɔ̃k.sjɔ̃\. intonations is at rank #49,735, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\.

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 72981, this pair ranks #42,118 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of injonctions vs intonations

Shared letters: inost. Private to "injonctions": cj. Private to "intonations": a.

"injonctions" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCCVVCC  ·  "intonations" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • injonctions ← ijnonctions · injjonctions · injnoctions · injocntions · injoncctions · injoncitons · injonctinos · injonctionns
  • intonations ← inntonations · inotnations · intnoations · intoantions · intonaitons · intonatinos · intonationns · intonationss

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "injonctions" for "intonations" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.ʒɔ̃k.sjɔ̃\ versus \ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "injonctions" or "intonations" show up more?
"injonctions" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,246 in our French list, against #49,735 for "intonations". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "injonctions" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intonations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,118 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "injonctions" and "intonations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intonations vs invocations". 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 #42,118 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