Which to use
“effraie” is a noun and “effrayé” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,251
- “effraie” frequency rank
- #17,697
- “effrayé” frequency rank
- 39948
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | effraie | effrayé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rapace nocturne du genre Tyto. | Qui est plein de frayeur. |
Where the eye mixes effraie and effrayé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. effraie and effrayé follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses effraie with effrayé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: effraie is \ɛf.ʁɛ\ while effrayé is \e.fʁɛ.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39948, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
effraie is recorded at frequency rank #22,251, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛf.ʁɛ\. effrayé is at rank #17,697, tagged as anadj, 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 39948, this pair ranks #244,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of effraie vs effrayé
Shared letters: aefr. Private to "effraie": i. Private to "effrayé": yé.
"effraie" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVVV · "effrayé" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- effraie ← effarie · effraei · effriae · effrraie · efraie · efrfaie · fefraie
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "effraie" and "effrayé" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "effraie" or "effrayé"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "effraie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "effrayé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #244,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "effraie" and "effrayé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "effraie vs effréné". 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 #244,168 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.