Which to use
“inquiet” is an adjective and “inquiéter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,979
- “inquiet” frequency rank
- #6,516
- “inquiéter” frequency rank
- 14495
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | inquiet | inquiéter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | En parlant d'une émotion ou d'une activité, qui prive du repos moral ou psychologique. | Rendre inquiet. |
Where the eye mixes inquiet and inquiéter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. inquiet runs 7 letters (VCCVVVC) against inquiéter's 9 (VCCVVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses inquiet with inquiéter
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: inquiet is \ɛ̃.kjɛ\ while inquiéter is \ɛ̃.kje.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14495, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
inquiet is recorded at frequency rank #7,979, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.kjɛ\. inquiéter is at rank #6,516, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.kje.te\.
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 14495, this pair ranks #396,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of inquiet vs inquiéter
Shared letters: einqtu. Private to "inquiet": -. Private to "inquiéter": ré.
"inquiet" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC · "inquiéter" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- inquiet ← innquiet · inqiuet · inqquiet · inqueit · inquiett · inquite · inuqiet · iqnuiet
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "inquiet" and "inquiéter" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "inquiet" or "inquiéter" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "inquiet" and "inquiéter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "inquiet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "inquiéter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "inquiet" and "inquiéter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inquiet vs inquiétée". 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 #396,396 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.