Which to use
“tache” and “trace” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,314
- “tache” frequency rank
- #3,369
- “trace” frequency rank
- 11683
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tache | trace |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Souillure sur quelque chose ; marque qui salit. | Marque ou empreinte laissée sur le sol par le passage d’une personne, d’un animal ou d’un objet. |
Where the eye mixes tache and trace
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tache and trace
A purely visual mix-up. tache (\taʃ\) and trace (\tʁas\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tache is recorded at frequency rank #8,314, classified as anoun, pronounced \taʃ\. trace is at rank #3,369, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁas\.
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 11683, this pair ranks #408,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tache vs trace
Shared letters: acet. Private to "tache": h. Private to "trace": r.
"tache" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "trace" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tache" and "trace" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "tache" vs "trace" - 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 "tache" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "trace" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #408,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tache" and "trace" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tache vs teach". 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 #408,232 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.