inquiétantvsinquiétanteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,868
“inquiétant” frequency rank
#15,168
“inquiétante” frequency rank
24036
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inquiétant inquiétante
Definition Qui cause de l’inquiétude. Féminin singulier de inquiétant.

Where the eye mixes inquiétant and inquiétante

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

10 ch
inquiétant
11 ch
inquiétante

Visual trap between inquiétant and inquiétante

A purely visual mix-up. inquiétant (\ɛ̃.kje.tɑ̃\) and inquiétante (\ɛ̃.kje.tɑ̃t\) 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 extra letter(s) - “inquiétant” sits inside “inquiétante”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24036, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inquiétant is recorded at frequency rank #8,868, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.kje.tɑ̃\. inquiétante is at rank #15,168, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.kje.tɑ̃t\.

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 24036, this pair ranks #349,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of inquiétant vs inquiétante

Shared letters: ainqtué. Private to "inquiétant": -. Private to "inquiétante": e.

"inquiétant" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVVCVCC  ·  "inquiétante" · 11 letters · shape VCCVVVCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "inquiétant" and "inquiétante" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.kje.tɑ̃\ versus \ɛ̃.kje.tɑ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "inquiétant" vs "inquiétante" - which ranks higher?
"inquiétant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,868 in our French list, against #15,168 for "inquiétante". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "inquiétant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inquiétante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #349,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "inquiétant" and "inquiétante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inquiétaient vs inquiétant". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #349,015 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