Which to use
“efface” is a noun and “effacée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,492
- “efface” frequency rank
- #24,956
- “effacée” frequency rank
- 35448
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | efface | effacée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petit cube de caoutchouc qui sert à effacer ce qui a été écrit avec un crayon de plomb. | Féminin singulier de effacé. |
Where the eye mixes efface and effacée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses efface with effacée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: efface is \e.fas\ while effacée is \e.fa.se\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
efface is recorded at frequency rank #10,492, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.fas\. effacée is at rank #24,956, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.fa.se\.
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 35448, this pair ranks #276,701 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of efface vs effacée
Shared letters: acef. Private to "efface": -. Private to "effacée": é.
"efface" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "effacée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- efface ← eface · efafce · effacce · effaec · effcae · feface
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "efface" and "effacée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "efface" or "effacée" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "efface" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "effacée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #276,701 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "efface" and "effacée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "effacée vs effacera". 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 #276,701 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.