tournisvstournoiWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#44,230
“tournis” frequency rank
#2,549
“tournoi” frequency rank
46779
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tournis tournoi
Definition Maladie des moutons et des bœufs dans laquelle, pris d’une sorte de vertige, ils tournent convulsivement sur eux-mêmes. Compétition amicale, sans enjeu important et ne donnant pas lieu à l'attribution d'un titre.

Where the eye mixes tournis and tournoi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
tournis
7 ch
tournoi

Look-alike desk: tournis vs tournoi

A purely visual mix-up. tournis (\tuʁ.ni\) and tournoi (\tuʁ.nwa\) 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 46779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tournis is recorded at frequency rank #44,230, classified as anoun, pronounced \tuʁ.ni\. tournoi is at rank #2,549, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tuʁ.nwa\.

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 46779, this pair ranks #192,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tournis vs tournoi

Shared letters: inortu. Private to "tournis": s. Private to "tournoi": -.

"tournis" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "tournoi" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tournisoturnis · torunis · tounris · tourins · tourniss · tournnis · tournsi · tourrnis
  • tournoioturnoi · torunoi · tounroi · tournio · tournnoi · touroni · tourrnoi · ttournoi

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tournis" and "tournoi" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\tuʁ.ni\ versus \tuʁ.nwa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tournis" vs "tournoi" - which ranks higher?
"tournoi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,549 in our French list, against #44,230 for "tournis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tournis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tournoi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #192,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tournis" and "tournoi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tournais vs tournis". 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 #192,153 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