tiquevstraqueConfusable pair

Which to use

“tique” and “traque” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,896
“tique” frequency rank
#15,279
“traque” frequency rank
42175
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tique traque
Definition Arachnide acarien ectoparasite, qui s’attache à la peau des chiens, des bœufs, des chats, des humains, des oiseaux ou des reptiles, se nourrissant de leur sang grâce à un rostre. Action de traquer.

Where the eye mixes tique and traque

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
tique
6 ch
traque

Visual trap between tique and traque

A purely visual mix-up. tique (\tik\) and traque (\tʁak\) 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 42175, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tique is recorded at frequency rank #26,896, classified as anoun, pronounced \tik\. traque is at rank #15,279, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁak\.

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 42175, this pair ranks #227,644 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tique vs traque

Shared letters: eqtu. Private to "tique": i. Private to "traque": ar.

"tique" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "traque" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tiqueitque · tiqeu · tiqque · tiuqe · tqiue · ttique
  • traquertaque · tarque · traqeu · traqque · trauqe · trqaue · trraque · ttraque

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tique" for "traque" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\tik\ versus \tʁak\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tique" or "traque"?
"traque" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,279 in our French list, against #26,896 for "tique". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tique" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "traque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #227,644 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tique" and "traque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ténue vs tique". 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 #227,644 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