Which to use
“instruire” is a verb and “instruite” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,045
- “instruire” frequency rank
- #43,998
- “instruite” frequency rank
- 63043
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | instruire | instruite |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enseigner quelque chose à quelqu’un, lui apprendre quelque chose, lui donner des leçons, des préceptes pour les mœurs, pour quelque science, etc. | Féminin singulier de instruit. |
Where the eye mixes instruire and instruite
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses instruire with instruite
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: instruire is \ɛ̃s.tʁɥiʁ\ while instruite is \ɛ̃s.tʁɥit\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “instruire” becomes t in “instruite”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
instruire is recorded at frequency rank #19,045, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃s.tʁɥiʁ\. instruite is at rank #43,998, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃s.tʁɥit\.
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 63043, this pair ranks #83,977 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of instruire vs instruite
Shared letters: einrstu. Private to "instruire": -. Private to "instruite": -.
"instruire" · 9 letters · shape VCCCCVVCV · "instruite" · 9 letters · shape VCCCCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "instruire" and "instruite" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "instruire" or "instruite"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "instruire" and "instruite" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "instruire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "instruite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #83,977 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "instruire" and "instruite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "instruite vs instruits". 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 #83,977 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.