Which to use
“frapper” and “frayer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,757
- “frapper” frequency rank
- #28,961
- “frayer” frequency rank
- 32718
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | frapper | frayer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Donner un ou plusieurs coups à quelqu’un, à quelque chose. | Ouvrir une voie, rendre praticable un chemin, une route ; en écarter les obstacles. |
Where the eye mixes frapper and frayer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. frapper runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against frayer's 6 (CCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses frapper with frayer
A purely visual mix-up. frapper (\fʁa.pe\) and frayer (\fʁɛ.je\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
frapper is recorded at frequency rank #3,757, classified as averb, pronounced \fʁa.pe\. frayer is at rank #28,961, tagged as averb, pronounced \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 32718, this pair ranks #295,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of frapper vs frayer
Shared letters: aefr. Private to "frapper": p. Private to "frayer": y.
"frapper" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "frayer" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "frapper" for "frayer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "frapper" vs "frayer" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "frapper" and "frayer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "frapper" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frayer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #295,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "frapper" and "frayer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frayer vs frayeurs". 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 #295,399 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.