Which to use
“frère” is a noun and “frire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #542
- “frère” frequency rank
- #35,956
- “frire” frequency rank
- 36498
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | frère | frire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Homme ou garçon enfant du même père et de la même mère qu’un ou plusieurs autre(s) individu(s) ; membre masculin d’une adelphie. | Faire cuire dans une poêle avec du beurre, du saindoux ou de l’huile. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set frère and frire apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
frère and frire form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - è in “frère” becomes i in “frire” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36498, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
frère is recorded at frequency rank #542, classified as anoun, pronounced \fʁɛʁ\. frire is at rank #35,956, tagged as averb, pronounced \fʁiʁ\.
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 36498, this pair ranks #269,164 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "frère" and "frire" be used interchangeably?
Remembering frère vs frire
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “frère”; for a verb, it's “frire”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “frère” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable