trèfle
\tʁɛfl\
The verdict
“trèfle” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #22,449 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #22,449
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 12
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) — Nom usuel des plantes du genre Trifolium, plantes herbacées de la famille des Fabaceae (Fabacées), dont les feuilles sont formées de 3 (rarement 4 ou plus) folioles rondes.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | trèfle |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \tʁɛfl\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #22,449 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 12 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “trèfle” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for trèfle is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tʁɛfl\. Corpus data places it at rank #22,449 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for trèfle, with forms such as "rtèfle", "trefle", and "trfèle". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "trêve", "trente", "triple", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is trèfle, spelled T-R-È-F-L-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Nom usuel des plantes du genre Trifolium, plantes herbacées de la famille des Fabaceae (Fabacées), dont les feuilles sont formées de 3 (rarement 4 ou plus) folioles rondes.
- 2Non donné à diverses plantes n’appartenant pas au genre Trifolium ni même parfois à la même famille, mais qui ont un aspect similaire.
- 3Une des quatre enseignes des cartes françaises, ainsi nommée parce que les cartes de cette couleur sont marquées de feuilles de trèfle noire stylisées (♣).
- 4Ornement imité de la feuille de trèfle représentant la Trinité.
- 5Croisement en trèfle.
- 6Argent.
- 7Tabac grossier.
- 8Groupe de trois pions de la même couleur.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: rtèfle,trefle,trfèle,trrèfle,trèfel,trèffle,trèflle,trèlfe,ttrèfle,tèrfle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of trèfle - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Edit distance from "trèfle"
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Cite this page
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “trèfle, French word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/fr/mot/trefle
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “trèfle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-R-È-F-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \tʁɛfl\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “trêve” - see the side-by-side comparison. trèfle vs trêve
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Nearby French words
Other entries that begin with the letter T in our French index: