frotter

\fʁɔ.te\

/\fʁɔ.te\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“frotter” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #13,600. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,600
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
12
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Passer une chose sur une autre à quelques ou plusieurs reprises, en appuyant, en pressant.

Corpus desk

Index FR-frotter · frotter · French

frotter · rank #13,600 · 9 variants · 12 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,600
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH foules

Nearest frequency peer: foules (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « frotter »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « frotter » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

frotter vs frottis
71% similar
frotter vs flotte
71% similar
frotter vs foster
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for frotter
PropertyValue
Headwordfrotter
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\fʁɔ.te\
Letters7
Frequency rank#13,600
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « frotter »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).frotterse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « foules » (#13,599), « gallery » (#13,601), « filiation » (#13,598). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « frotter » est au #13,600. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around frotter (IPA \fʁɔ.te\), averb. Corpus frequency is #13,600 among 3,276 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for frotter, with forms such as "ffrotter", "fortter", and "froter". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "frottis", "flotte", "foster", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is frotter, spelled F-R-O-T-T-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Passer une chose sur une autre à quelques ou plusieurs reprises, en appuyant, en pressant.
  2. 2
    Être en relation superficielle.
  3. 3
    Être en relation opposée, tendue.
  4. 4
    Oindre, enduire, en frottant.
  5. 5
    Appliquer une légère couche de couleur sur celle qui fait le fond d’un tableau.
  6. 6
    Battre, frapper, maltraiter.
  7. 7
    Se dit d’une chose qui passe, qui glisse sur une autre ou contre une autre, en exerçant quelque pression.
  8. 8
    , Parler de, porter sur.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how frotter appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Je m’apprête à allumer la lampe. Je frotte une allumette. Elle ne prend pas, le phosphore s’écaille, elle se casse.
  2. Pour enlever les taches qui peuvent être faites sur les doigts avec le désensibilisateur, il suffit de les frotter avec un tampon d’ouate imbibé d’acétone.

This word in other languages

rub(English)frotar(Español)frottieren(Deutsch)esfregar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ffrotter
  • fortter
  • froter
  • frotetr
  • frotterr
  • frottre
  • frrotter
  • frtoter
  • rfotter

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of frotter - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ffrotter1fortter2froter1frotetr2frotterr1frottre2frrotter1frtoter2
Edit distance from "frotter"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "frotter"?
"frotter" is spelled F-R-O-T-T-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \fʁɔ.te\.
What does "frotter" mean?
As a verb, "frotter" means: Passer une chose sur une autre à quelques ou plusieurs reprises, en appuyant, en pressant.
What words are commonly confused with "frotter"?
"frotter" is commonly confused with "frottis", "flotte", "foster". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "frotter"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "frotter" is \fʁɔ.te\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "frotter" come from?
"frotter" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "frotter", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

gallery#13,601façades#13,597griller#13,605grilles#13,606

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

export9 variantsexamine9 variantsKansas9 variantscornes9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list