Which to use
“efface” and “effect” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,492
- “efface” frequency rank
- #20,129
- “effect” frequency rank
- 30621
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | efface | effect |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petit cube de caoutchouc qui sert à effacer ce qui a été écrit avec un crayon de plomb. | Résultat, suite, aboutissement. |
Where the eye mixes efface and effect
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: efface vs effect
A purely visual mix-up. efface (\e.fas\) and effect (\ɪ.ˈfɛkt\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30621, 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\. effect is at rank #20,129, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɪ.ˈfɛkt\.
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 30621, this pair ranks #309,054 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of efface vs effect
Shared letters: cef. Private to "efface": a. Private to "effect": t.
"efface" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "effect" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "efface" and "effect" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "efface" vs "effect" - 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 "efface" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "effect" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #309,054 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "efface" and "effect" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "effect vs effectua". 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 #309,054 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.