effrayantvseffrayantsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,574
“effrayant” frequency rank
#37,787
“effrayants” frequency rank
49361
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the spellings diverge

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

9 ch
effrayant
10 ch
effrayants

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. effrayant and effrayants are pronounced identically (\e.fʁɛ.jɑ̃\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “effrayant” sits inside “effrayants”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49361, 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\. effrayants is at rank #37,787, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.fʁɛ.jɑ̃\.

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 49361, this pair ranks #171,328 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of effrayant vs effrayants

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

"effrayant" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVVCC  ·  "effrayants" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • effrayanteffaryant · effraaynt · effrayannt · effrayantt · effrayatn · effraynat · effrayyant · effrrayant
  • effrayantseffaryants · effraaynts · effrayannts · effrayanst · effrayantss · effrayantts · effrayatns · effraynats

Frequency comparison

effrayant#11,574
effrayants#37,787

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "effrayant" and "effrayants" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\e.fʁɛ.jɑ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "effrayant" or "effrayants"?
"effrayant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,574 in our French list, against #37,787 for "effrayants". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering effrayant vs effrayants

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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list