Which to use
“inscrire” and “instruire” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,684
- “inscrire” frequency rank
- #19,045
- “instruire” frequency rank
- 22729
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | inscrire | instruire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Écrire le nom de quelqu’un, ou prendre note, faire mention de quelque chose sur un registre, sur une liste, etc. | Enseigner quelque chose à quelqu’un, lui apprendre quelque chose, lui donner des leçons, des préceptes pour les mœurs, pour quelque science, etc. |
Where the eye mixes inscrire and instruire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. inscrire runs 8 letters (VCCCCVCV) against instruire's 9 (VCCCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between inscrire and instruire
A purely visual mix-up. inscrire (\ɛ̃s.kʁiʁ\) and instruire (\ɛ̃s.tʁɥiʁ\) 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 22729, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
inscrire is recorded at frequency rank #3,684, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃s.kʁiʁ\. instruire is at rank #19,045, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃s.tʁɥiʁ\.
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 22729, this pair ranks #356,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of inscrire vs instruire
Shared letters: einrs. Private to "inscrire": c. Private to "instruire": tu.
"inscrire" · 8 letters · shape VCCCCVCV · "instruire" · 9 letters · shape VCCCCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "inscrire" and "instruire" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "inscrire" vs "instruire" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "inscrire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "instruire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "inscrire" and "instruire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "instruire vs instruite". 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 #356,463 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.