tournévstournisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tourné is a adjective, tournis is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tourné” is an adjective and “tournis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,300
“tourné” frequency rank
#44,230
“tournis” frequency rank
47530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tourné tournis
Definition Aigri. Maladie des moutons et des bœufs dans laquelle, pris d’une sorte de vertige, ils tournent convulsivement sur eux-mêmes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tourné and tournis apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
tourné
7 ch
tournis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

tourné and tournis form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tourné is recorded at frequency rank #3,300, classified as anadj, pronounced \tuʁ.ne\. tournis is at rank #44,230, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tuʁ.ni\.

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 47530, this pair ranks #186,233 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

tourné#3,300
tournis#44,230

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tourné" and "tournis" be used interchangeably?
No, "tourné" and "tournis" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering tourné vs tournis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “tourné”; for a noun, it's “tournis”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tourné” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list