tirvstunWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,969
“tir” frequency rank
#49,414
“tun” frequency rank
52383
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tir tun
Definition Action, art de tirer, de faire partir une arme de jet ou une arme à feu dans une direction déterminée. Craie glauconieuse.

Where the eye mixes tir and tun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
tir
3 ch
tun

Why the eye confuses tir with tun

A purely visual mix-up. tir (\tiʁ\) and tun (\tyn\) 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 52383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tir is recorded at frequency rank #2,969, classified as anoun, pronounced \tiʁ\. tun is at rank #49,414, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tyn\.

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 52383, this pair ranks #148,111 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tir vs tun

Shared letters: t. Private to "tir": ir. Private to "tun": nu.

"tir" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tir" for "tun" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\tiʁ\ versus \tyn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tir" vs "tun" - which ranks higher?
"tir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,969 in our French list, against #49,414 for "tun". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #148,111 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tir" and "tun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tun". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #148,111 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