frappentvsfrappesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: frappent is a verb, frappes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“frappent” is a verb and “frappes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,628
“frappent” frequency rank
#9,663
“frappes” frequency rank
26291
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frappent frappes
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de frapper. Pluriel de frappe.

Same sound, different letters: frappent vs frappes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. frappent runs 8 letters (CCVCCVCC) against frappes's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
frappent
7 ch
frappes

Ear matches; page differs - frappent and frappes

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: frappent and frappes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fʁap\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26291, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frappent is recorded at frequency rank #16,628, classified as averb, pronounced \fʁap\. frappes is at rank #9,663, tagged as anoun, 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 26291, this pair ranks #335,958 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of frappent vs frappes

Shared letters: aefpr. Private to "frappent": nt. Private to "frappes": s.

"frappent" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC  ·  "frappes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • frappentfarppent · ffrappent · frapent · frapepnt · frappennt · frappentt · frappetn · frappnet
  • frappesfarppes · ffrappes · frapeps · frapes · frappess · frappse · frpapes · frrappes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "frappent" and "frappes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "frappent" is a verb and "frappes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "frappent" or "frappes" show up more?
"frappes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,663 in our French list, against #16,628 for "frappent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "frappent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frappes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #335,958 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "frappent" and "frappes" 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 #335,958 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list