Which to use
“tain” and “tun” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,170
- “tain” frequency rank
- #49,414
- “tun” frequency rank
- 68584
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tain | tun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Feuille ou lame très mince formée d’un amalgame de 80% d’étain et de 20% de mercure, qu’on appliquait derrière une glace pour qu’elle réfléchisse les objets, actuellement il s'agit d'un composé à l'argent métallique. | Craie glauconieuse. |
Where the eye mixes tain and tun
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tain runs 4 letters (CVVC) against tun's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses tain with tun
A purely visual mix-up. tain (\tɛ̃\) and tun (\tyn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tain is recorded at frequency rank #19,170, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɛ̃\. tun is at rank #49,414, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tyn\.
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 68584, this pair ranks #58,571 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tain vs tun
Shared letters: nt. Private to "tain": ai. Private to "tun": u.
"tain" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "tun" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tain ← atin · tainn · tani · ttain
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tain" and "tun" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tain" vs "tun" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #58,571 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tain" and "tun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tun". 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 #58,571 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.