frédéricvsFrédériqueTell them apart

Quick tell: frédéric is a noun, Frédérique is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“frédéric” is a noun and “Frédérique” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,404
“frédéric” frequency rank
#21,022
“Frédérique” frequency rank
24426
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frédéric Frédérique
Definition Monnaie d’or de Prusse. Prénom féminin.

Same sound, different letters: frédéric vs Frédérique

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. frédéric runs 8 letters (CCVCVCVC) against Frédérique's 10 (CCVCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
frédéric
10 ch
Frédérique

Homophone desk: frédéric vs Frédérique

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: frédéric and Frédérique carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fʁe.de.ʁik\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other aname, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frédéric is recorded at frequency rank #3,404, classified as anoun, pronounced \fʁe.de.ʁik\. Frédérique is at rank #21,022, tagged as aname, pronounced \fʁe.de.ʁik\.

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 24426, this pair ranks #346,707 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of frédéric vs Frédérique

Shared letters: dfiré. Private to "frédéric": c. Private to "Frédérique": equ.

"frédéric" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "Frédérique" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "frédéric" and "Frédérique" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "frédéric" is a noun and "Frédérique" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "frédéric" or "Frédérique" show up more?
"frédéric" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,404 in our French list, against #21,022 for "Frédérique". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "frédéric" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Frédérique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #346,707 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "frédéric" and "Frédérique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "féerique vs Frédérique". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #346,707 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