effrayéevseffrayerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: effrayée is a adjective, effrayer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“effrayée” is an adjective and “effrayer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,534
“effrayée” frequency rank
#18,186
“effrayer” frequency rank
46720
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature effrayée effrayer
Definition Féminin singulier de effrayé. Remplir de frayeur.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set effrayée and effrayer apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
effrayée
8 ch
effrayer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: effrayée and effrayer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \e.fʁɛ.je\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46720, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

effrayée is recorded at frequency rank #28,534, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.fʁɛ.je\. 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 46720, this pair ranks #192,663 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of effrayée vs effrayer

Shared letters: aefry. Private to "effrayée": é. Private to "effrayer": -.

"effrayée" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVVVV  ·  "effrayer" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • effrayereffaryer · effraeyr · effrayerr · effrayre · effrayyer · effrrayer · effryaer · efrayer

Frequency comparison

effrayée#28,534
effrayer#18,186

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "effrayée" and "effrayer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "effrayée" is an adjective and "effrayer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "effrayée" or "effrayer"?
"effrayer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,186 in our French list, against #28,534 for "effrayée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering effrayée vs effrayer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “effrayée”; for a verb, it's “effrayer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “effrayée” 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