inquiètevsinquiètesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: inquiète is a noun, inquiètes is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“inquiète” is a noun and “inquiètes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,129
“inquiète” frequency rank
#10,724
“inquiètes” frequency rank
12853
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inquiète inquiètes
Definition Personne inquiète. Féminin pluriel de inquiet.

Same sound, different letters: inquiète vs inquiètes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. inquiète runs 8 letters (VCCVVVCV) against inquiètes's 9 (VCCVVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
inquiète
9 ch
inquiètes

Ear matches; page differs - inquiète and inquiètes

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: inquiète and inquiètes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛ̃.kjɛt\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “inquiète” sits inside “inquiètes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12853, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inquiète is recorded at frequency rank #2,129, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.kjɛt\. inquiètes is at rank #10,724, tagged as anadj, 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 12853, this pair ranks #403,483 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of inquiète vs inquiètes

Shared letters: einqtuè. Private to "inquiète": -. Private to "inquiètes": s.

"inquiète" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVVCV  ·  "inquiètes" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "inquiète" and "inquiètes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "inquiète" is a noun and "inquiètes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "inquiète" or "inquiètes" show up more?
"inquiète" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,129 in our French list, against #10,724 for "inquiètes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

"inquiète" and "inquiètes" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "inquiète" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inquiètes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #403,483 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "inquiète" and "inquiètes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inquiétée vs inquiètes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #403,483 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