frigidevsfroideWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“frigide” and “froide” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,353
“frigide” frequency rank
#3,922
“froide” frequency rank
46275
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frigide froide
Definition Se dit d’une personne qui n’éprouve pas de désir ou de plaisir sexuels lors des relations sexuelles. Féminin singulier de froid.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set frigide and froide apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
frigide
6 ch
froide

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. frigide (\fʁi.ʒid\) and froide (\fʁwad\) 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 46275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frigide is recorded at frequency rank #42,353, classified as anadj, pronounced \fʁi.ʒid\. froide is at rank #3,922, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fʁwad\.

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 46275, this pair ranks #196,204 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of frigide vs froide

Shared letters: defir. Private to "frigide": g. Private to "froide": o.

"frigide" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "froide" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • frigideffrigide · firgide · frgiide · frigdie · friggide · frigidde · frigied · friigde
  • froideffroide · foride · friode · frodie · froidde · froied · frroide · rfoide

Frequency comparison

frigide#42,353
froide#3,922

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "frigide" and "froide" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fʁi.ʒid\ versus \fʁwad\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "frigide" or "froide"?
"froide" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,922 in our French list, against #42,353 for "frigide". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering frigide vs froide

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “frigide” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list