effrayantvseffrayantesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“effrayant” and “effrayantes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,574
“effrayant” frequency rank
#40,238
“effrayantes” frequency rank
51812
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature effrayant effrayantes
Definition Qui fait peur ; qui donne de l’effroi ; qui effraye. Féminin pluriel de effrayant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set effrayant and effrayantes apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
effrayant
11 ch
effrayantes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. effrayant (\e.fʁɛ.jɑ̃\) and effrayantes (\e.fʁɛ.jɑ̃t\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “effrayant” sits inside “effrayantes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51812, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

effrayant is recorded at frequency rank #11,574, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.fʁɛ.jɑ̃\. effrayantes is at rank #40,238, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.fʁɛ.jɑ̃t\.

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 51812, this pair ranks #152,272 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of effrayant vs effrayantes

Shared letters: aefnrty. Private to "effrayant": -. Private to "effrayantes": s.

"effrayant" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVVCC  ·  "effrayantes" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • effrayanteffaryant · effraaynt · effrayannt · effrayantt · effrayatn · effraynat · effrayyant · effrrayant
  • effrayanteseffaryantes · effraayntes · effrayanets · effrayanntes · effrayantess · effrayantse · effrayanttes · effrayatnes

Frequency comparison

effrayant#11,574
effrayantes#40,238

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "effrayant" and "effrayantes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.fʁɛ.jɑ̃\ versus \e.fʁɛ.jɑ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "effrayant" or "effrayantes"?
"effrayant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,574 in our French list, against #40,238 for "effrayantes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering effrayant vs effrayantes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “effrayant” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list