Schalke maintained the pressure on Bundesliga pacesetters Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen as two second half goals settled the clash at the Arena AufSchalke.
Substitute Gerald Asamoah opened the scoring in the 66th minute and Jefferson Farfan wrapped up the points with an injury-time penalty against a side who had Pirmin Schwegler dismissed five minutes from time.
Schalke's Benedikt Howedes had the first chance of the match - but his 20-yard effort comfortably cleared the Frankfurt crossbar.
The visitors' only chance of the first half came when Ioannis Amanatidis shot narrowly wide from Christopher Spycher's cross.
Visiting goalkeeper Oka Nikolov denied Marcelo Jose Bordon's powerful 22nd-minute header from Levan Kenia's cross, then Bordon was off target with another header two minutes later.
Three minutes before the break Schalke squandered the best chance of the half when Kevin Kuranyi chose to set up Kenia instead of going for goal himself - and saw his effort blocked by a defender.
Farfan had the first chance of the second half - but was unable to end an impressive 51st-minute run with the right finish as his weak shot was cleared.
Frankfurt threatened six minutes later when Markus Steinhofer's well-struck right foot shot went just wide.
However, the hosts made the breakthrough when Asamoah headed Lukas Schmitz's free-kick powerfully past Jan Zimmermann - a half-time replacement for the injured Nikolov.
Kuranyi wasted a chance four minutes later after Asamoah had set him up, before the busy Ghanaian shot narrowly wide.
Schwegler was dismissed after receiving his second yellow card for a foul on Kenia - and Farfan made the points safe when he converted from the spot after being fouled by substitute goalkeeper Zimmermann.
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