fréquencevsfréquenterWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,077
“fréquence” frequency rank
#12,386
“fréquenter” frequency rank
16463
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fréquence fréquenter
Definition Répétition incessante et régulière d’une action ou d’un fait. Aller fréquemment dans un lieu.

Where the eye mixes fréquence and fréquenter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. fréquence runs 9 letters (CCVCVVCCV) against fréquenter's 10 (CCVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
fréquence
10 ch
fréquenter

Look-alike desk: fréquence vs fréquenter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fréquence is \fʁe.kɑ̃s\ while fréquenter is \fʁe.kɑ̃.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fréquence is recorded at frequency rank #4,077, classified as anoun, pronounced \fʁe.kɑ̃s\. fréquenter is at rank #12,386, tagged as averb, pronounced \fʁe.kɑ̃.te\.

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 16463, this pair ranks #387,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fréquence vs fréquenter

Shared letters: efnqrué. Private to "fréquence": c. Private to "fréquenter": t.

"fréquence" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVVCCV  ·  "fréquenter" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fréquence" and "fréquenter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fréquence" is a noun and "fréquenter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "fréquence" or "fréquenter" show up more?
"fréquence" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,077 in our French list, against #12,386 for "fréquenter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "fréquence" and "fréquenter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fréquence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fréquenter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #387,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fréquence" and "fréquenter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fréquentées vs fréquenter". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #387,732 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