taskvstrashTell them apart

Quick tell: task is a noun, trash is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“task” is a noun and “trash” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,562
“task” frequency rank
#18,089
“trash” frequency rank
59651
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature task trash
Definition Tâche, devoir. Qui évoque une vie et des valeurs liées à un monde glauque, comme la saleté, la sexualité malsaine, la toxicomanie et la violence.

Where the eye mixes task and trash

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
task
5 ch
trash

Visual trap between task and trash

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: task is \ˈtæsk\ while trash is \tʁaʃ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

task is recorded at frequency rank #41,562, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈtæsk\. trash is at rank #18,089, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tʁaʃ\.

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 59651, this pair ranks #101,970 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of task vs trash

Shared letters: ast. Private to "task": k. Private to "trash": hr.

"task" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "trash" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taskatsk · taks · taskk · tassk · tsak · ttask
  • trashrtash · tarsh · trahs · trashh · trassh · trrash · trsah · ttrash

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "task" and "trash" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "task" is a noun and "trash" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "task" or "trash" show up more?
"trash" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,089 in our French list, against #41,562 for "task". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "task" and "trash" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "task" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trash" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #101,970 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "task" and "trash" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tak vs task". 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 #101,970 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list