Which to use
“efface” and “effraie” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,492
- “efface” frequency rank
- #22,251
- “effraie” frequency rank
- 32743
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | efface | effraie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petit cube de caoutchouc qui sert à effacer ce qui a été écrit avec un crayon de plomb. | Rapace nocturne du genre Tyto. |
Where the eye mixes efface and effraie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. efface runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against effraie's 7 (VCCCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between efface and effraie
A purely visual mix-up. efface (\e.fas\) and effraie (\ɛf.ʁɛ\) 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 32743, 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\. effraie is at rank #22,251, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛf.ʁɛ\.
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 32743, this pair ranks #295,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of efface vs effraie
Shared letters: aef. Private to "efface": c. Private to "effraie": ir.
"efface" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "effraie" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "efface" and "effraie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "efface" or "effraie" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "effraie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #295,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "efface" and "effraie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "efface 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 #295,258 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.