Which to use
“terrain” and “terrains” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #890
- “terrain” frequency rank
- #3,572
- “terrains” frequency rank
- 4462
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | terrain | terrains |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Terre, sol considéré par rapport à sa nature, à sa composition, à sa forme. | Pluriel de terrain. |
Same sound, different letters: terrain vs terrains
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. terrain runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against terrains's 8 (CVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: terrain vs terrains
This is the hard kind. terrain and terrains are pronounced identically (\tɛ.ʁɛ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “terrain” sits inside “terrains”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
terrain is recorded at frequency rank #890, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɛ.ʁɛ̃\. terrains is at rank #3,572, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɛ.ʁɛ̃\.
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 4462, this pair ranks #431,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of terrain vs terrains
Shared letters: aeinrt. Private to "terrain": -. Private to "terrains": s.
"terrain" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "terrains" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "terrain" for "terrains" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "terrain" or "terrains" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "terrain" / "terrains". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "terrain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "terrains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "terrain" and "terrains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "terrace vs terrain". 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 #431,551 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.