Which to use
“terme” and “three” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #535
- “terme” frequency rank
- #19,176
- “three” frequency rank
- 19711
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | terme | three |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Borne marquant une limite et faite d’un buste terminé en gaine, en souvenir du dieu Terme. | (radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour le chiffre 3. |
Where the eye mixes terme and three
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: terme vs three
A purely visual mix-up. terme (\tɛʁm\) 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 19711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
terme is recorded at frequency rank #535, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɛʁm\. 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 19711, this pair ranks #371,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of terme vs three
Shared letters: ert. Private to "terme": m. Private to "three": h.
"terme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "three" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "terme" for "three" ever safe?
Which is more common, "terme" or "three"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "terme" 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 #371,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "terme" and "three" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "taxée vs three". 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 #371,928 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.