Which to use
“frein” is a noun and “freine” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,569
- “frein” frequency rank
- #20,148
- “freine” frequency rank
- 27717
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | frein | freine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dispositif destiné à modérer la vitesse d’un mécanisme, à enrayer les roues d’un véhicule. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de freiner. |
Where the eye mixes frein and freine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between frein and freine
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: frein is \fʁɛ̃\ while freine is \fʁɛn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “frein” sits inside “freine”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
frein is recorded at frequency rank #7,569, classified as anoun, pronounced \fʁɛ̃\. freine is at rank #20,148, tagged as averb, pronounced \fʁɛn\.
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 27717, this pair ranks #327,229 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of frein vs freine
Shared letters: efinr. Private to "frein": -. Private to "freine": -.
"frein" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "freine" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "frein" for "freine" ever safe?
Which is more common, "frein" or "freine"?
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 "frein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "freine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #327,229 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "frein" and "freine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "freine vs fringe". 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 #327,229 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.