inquiétéevsinquiètentWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,365
“inquiétée” frequency rank
#16,653
“inquiètent” frequency rank
55018
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inquiétée inquiètent
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de inquiéter. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de inquiéter.

Where the eye mixes inquiétée and inquiètent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. inquiétée runs 9 letters (VCCVVVCVV) against inquiètent's 10 (VCCVVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
inquiétée
10 ch
inquiètent

Visual trap between inquiétée and inquiètent

A purely visual mix-up. inquiétée (\ɛ̃.kje.te\) and inquiètent (\ɛ̃.kjɛt\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55018, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inquiétée is recorded at frequency rank #38,365, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.kje.te\. 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 55018, this pair ranks #130,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of inquiétée vs inquiètent

Shared letters: einqtu. Private to "inquiétée": é. Private to "inquiètent": è.

"inquiétée" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVVCVV  ·  "inquiètent" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "inquiétée" for "inquiètent" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.kje.te\ versus \ɛ̃.kjɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "inquiétée" vs "inquiètent" - which ranks higher?
"inquiètent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,653 in our French list, against #38,365 for "inquiétée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "inquiétée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inquiètent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #130,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "inquiétée" and "inquiètent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inquiétaient vs inquiètent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #130,178 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