frustrevsfrustrerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: frustre is a adjective, frustrer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“frustre” is an adjective and “frustrer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,469
“frustre” frequency rank
#45,061
“frustrer” frequency rank
89530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frustre frustrer
Definition Variante de fruste. Priver quelqu’un de ce qui lui est dû, de ce qui doit lui revenir, ou à quoi il s’attend.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set frustre and frustrer apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
frustre
8 ch
frustrer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: frustre is \fʁystʁ\ while frustrer is \fʁys.tʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “frustre” sits inside “frustrer”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frustre is recorded at frequency rank #44,469, classified as anadj, pronounced \fʁystʁ\. frustrer is at rank #45,061, tagged as averb, pronounced \fʁys.tʁe\.

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 89530, this pair ranks #5,692 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of frustre vs frustrer

Shared letters: efrstu. Private to "frustre": -. Private to "frustrer": -.

"frustre" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV  ·  "frustrer" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • frustreffrustre · frrustre · frsutre · frusrte · frusstre · fruster · frustrre · frusttre
  • frustrerffrustrer · frrustrer · frsutrer · frusrter · frusstrer · frusterr · frustrerr · frustrrer

Frequency comparison

frustre#44,469
frustrer#45,061

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "frustre" and "frustrer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "frustre" is an adjective and "frustrer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "frustre" or "frustrer"?
"frustre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,469 in our French list, against #45,061 for "frustrer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering frustre vs frustrer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “frustre”; for a verb, it's “frustrer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “frustre” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list