Which to use
“tares” and “three” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,689
- “tares” frequency rank
- #19,176
- “three” frequency rank
- 62865
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tares | three |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de tare. | (radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour le chiffre 3. |
Where the eye mixes tares and three
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tares (CVCVC) and three (CCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses tares with three
A purely visual mix-up. tares (\taʁ\) and three (\ˈtri\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62865, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tares is recorded at frequency rank #43,689, classified as anoun, pronounced \taʁ\. three is at rank #19,176, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈtri\.
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 62865, this pair ranks #84,851 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tares vs three
Shared letters: ert. Private to "tares": as. Private to "three": h.
"tares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "three" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tares" for "three" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tares" vs "three" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tares" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "three" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #84,851 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tares" and "three" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tares vs tories". 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 #84,851 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.