Which to use
“intime” and “inutile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,469
- “intime” frequency rank
- #2,230
- “inutile” frequency rank
- 7699
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intime | inutile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Profondément intérieur, en parlant surtout de ce qui fait l’essence réelle d’une chose. | Qui n’est d’aucune utilité, d’aucun usage, en parlant des choses. |
Where the eye mixes intime and inutile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between intime and inutile
A purely visual mix-up. intime (\ɛ̃.tim\) and inutile (\i.ny.til\) 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 7699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intime is recorded at frequency rank #5,469, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tim\. inutile is at rank #2,230, tagged as anadj, pronounced \i.ny.til\.
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 7699, this pair ranks #422,407 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of intime vs inutile
Shared letters: eint. Private to "intime": m. Private to "inutile": lu.
"intime" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "inutile" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "intime" and "inutile" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "intime" vs "inutile" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "intime" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "inutile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,407 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intime" and "inutile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "income vs intime". 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 #422,407 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.