Which to use
“interdit” is an adjective and “intérêt” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,920
- “interdit” frequency rank
- #616
- “intérêt” frequency rank
- 2536
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | interdit | intérêt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Défendu par la loi, ou par la morale. | Ce qui importe, ce qui convient, en quelque manière que ce soit, à l’utilité, à l’avantage d’une personne ou d’une collectivité, d’un individu ou d’une personne morale, en ce qui concerne soit leur bien physique et matériel, soit leur bien intellectuel et moral, soit leur considération et leur honneur. |
Where the eye mixes interdit and intérêt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: interdit vs intérêt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: interdit is \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.di\ while intérêt is \ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
interdit is recorded at frequency rank #1,920, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.di\. intérêt is at rank #616, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ\.
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 2536, this pair ranks #435,954 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of interdit vs intérêt
Shared letters: inrt. Private to "interdit": de. Private to "intérêt": éê.
"interdit" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "intérêt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- interdit ← inetrdit · innterdit · intedrit · interddit · interditt · interdti · interidt · interrdit
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "interdit" for "intérêt" ever safe?
Frequency check: "interdit" vs "intérêt" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "interdit" and "intérêt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "interdit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intérêt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,954 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "interdit" and "intérêt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "interagit vs interdit". 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 #435,954 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.