inquiétantsvsinquiètentWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#32,861
“inquiétants” frequency rank
#16,653
“inquiètent” frequency rank
49514
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inquiétants inquiètent
Definition Masculin pluriel de inquiétant. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de inquiéter.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set inquiétants and inquiètent apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
inquiétants
10 ch
inquiètent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: inquiétants is \ɛ̃.kje.tɑ̃\ while inquiètent is \ɛ̃.kjɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 49514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inquiétants is recorded at frequency rank #32,861, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.kje.tɑ̃\. inquiètent is at rank #16,653, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.kjɛt\.

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 49514, this pair ranks #170,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of inquiétants vs inquiètent

Shared letters: inqtu. Private to "inquiétants": asé. Private to "inquiètent": .

"inquiétants" · 11 letters · shape VCCVVVCVCCC  ·  "inquiètent" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVVCVCC

Frequency comparison

inquiétants#32,861
inquiètent#16,653

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "inquiétants" and "inquiètent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "inquiétants" is an adjective and "inquiètent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "inquiétants" or "inquiètent"?
"inquiètent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,653 in our French list, against #32,861 for "inquiétants". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering inquiétants vs inquiètent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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