Dominant negative polypeptides can inhibit protein function by binding to the wild type version or by titrating a ligand. Here, we use high-throughput sequencing of libraries composed of fragments of yeast genes to identify dominant negative polypeptides based on their depletion during cell growth. The method can uncover numerous inhibitory polypeptides for a protein and thereby define these fragments with exquisite resolution, even pinpointing individual residues with critical functional roles.