Which to use
“frontalier” and “frontalières” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,176
- “frontalier” frequency rank
- #36,407
- “frontalières” frequency rank
- 64583
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | frontalier | frontalières |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Relatif à la frontière. | Féminin pluriel de frontalier. |
Where the eye mixes frontalier and frontalières
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. frontalier runs 10 letters (CCVCCVCVVC) against frontalières's 12 (CCVCCVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between frontalier and frontalières
A purely visual mix-up. frontalier (\fʁɔ̃.ta.lje\) and frontalières (\fʁɔ̃.ta.ljɛʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
frontalier is recorded at frequency rank #28,176, classified as anadj, pronounced \fʁɔ̃.ta.lje\. frontalières is at rank #36,407, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fʁɔ̃.ta.ljɛʁ\.
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 64583, this pair ranks #76,344 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of frontalier vs frontalières
Shared letters: aefilnort. Private to "frontalier": -. Private to "frontalières": sè.
"frontalier" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCVCVVC · "frontalières" · 12 letters · shape CCVCCVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- frontalier ← ffrontalier · forntalier · frnotalier · fronatlier · fronntalier · frontailer · frontaleir · frontalierr
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "frontalier" for "frontalières" ever safe?
Frequency check: "frontalier" vs "frontalières" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "frontalier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frontalières" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #76,344 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "frontalier" and "frontalières" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frontales vs frontalier". 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 #76,344 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.