intéressavsinterestWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: intéressa is a verb, interest is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“intéressa” is a verb and “interest” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,166
“intéressa” frequency rank
#36,908
“interest” frequency rank
86074
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intéressa interest
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de intéresser. Intérêt.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set intéressa and interest apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
intéressa
8 ch
interest

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intéressa is \ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ.sa\ while interest is \ˈɪn.tɹɪst\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86074, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intéressa is recorded at frequency rank #49,166, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ.sa\. interest is at rank #36,908, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈɪn.tɹɪst\.

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 86074, this pair ranks #10,277 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of intéressa vs interest

Shared letters: einrst. Private to "intéressa": . Private to "interest": -.

"intéressa" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV  ·  "interest" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • interestinetrest · innterest · inteerst · interesst · interestt · interrest · interset · intreest

Frequency comparison

intéressa#49,166
interest#36,908

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "intéressa" and "interest" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "intéressa" is a verb and "interest" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "intéressa" or "interest"?
"interest" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,908 in our French list, against #49,166 for "intéressa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering intéressa vs interest

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “intéressa”; for a noun, it's “interest”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “intéressa” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list