Which to use
“frappait” and “frappent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,323
- “frappait” frequency rank
- #16,628
- “frappent” frequency rank
- 41951
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | frappait | frappent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de frapper. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de frapper. |
Where the eye mixes frappait and frappent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. frappait (CCVCCVVC) and frappent (CCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses frappait with frappent
A purely visual mix-up. frappait (\fʁa.pɛ\) and frappent (\fʁap\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
frappait is recorded at frequency rank #25,323, classified as averb, pronounced \fʁa.pɛ\. frappent is at rank #16,628, tagged as averb, pronounced \fʁap\.
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 41951, this pair ranks #229,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of frappait vs frappent
Shared letters: afprt. Private to "frappait": i. Private to "frappent": en.
"frappait" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVVC · "frappent" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "frappait" for "frappent" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "frappait" or "frappent" show up more?
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 "frappait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frappent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "frappait" and "frappent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frappent vs frappera". 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 #229,331 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.