Which to use
“effacer” and “effrayer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,974
- “effacer” frequency rank
- #18,186
- “effrayer” frequency rank
- 24160
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | effacer | effrayer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faire disparaître plus ou moins, en parlant de la forme, des couleurs de quelque chose. | Remplir de frayeur. |
Where the eye mixes effacer and effrayer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses effacer with effrayer
A purely visual mix-up. effacer (\e.fa.se\) and effrayer (\e.fʁɛ.je\) 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 24160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
effacer is recorded at frequency rank #5,974, classified as averb, pronounced \e.fa.se\. effrayer is at rank #18,186, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.fʁɛ.je\.
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 24160, this pair ranks #348,235 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of effacer vs effrayer
Shared letters: aefr. Private to "effacer": c. Private to "effrayer": y.
"effacer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "effrayer" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "effacer" for "effrayer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "effacer" vs "effrayer" - 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 "effacer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "effrayer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #348,235 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "effacer" and "effrayer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "effacer 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 #348,235 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.