Which to use
“tirage” and “trace” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,627
- “tirage” frequency rank
- #3,369
- “trace” frequency rank
- 7996
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tirage | trace |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de tirer, de déplacer, de mouvoir dans une direction. | Marque ou empreinte laissée sur le sol par le passage d’une personne, d’un animal ou d’un objet. |
Where the eye mixes tirage and trace
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses tirage with trace
A purely visual mix-up. tirage (\ti.ʁaʒ\) and trace (\tʁas\) 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 7996, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tirage is recorded at frequency rank #4,627, classified as anoun, pronounced \ti.ʁaʒ\. trace is at rank #3,369, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁas\.
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 7996, this pair ranks #421,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tirage vs trace
Shared letters: aert. Private to "tirage": gi. Private to "trace": c.
"tirage" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "trace" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tirage" and "trace" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "tirage" or "trace"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tirage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "trace" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #421,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tirage" and "trace" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "terrace vs trace". 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 #421,465 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.