traditionvstraductionWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,201
“tradition” frequency rank
#2,153
“traduction” frequency rank
4354
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tradition traduction
Definition Action de transmettre. Action de traduire, travail consistant à convertir un texte d’une langue dans une autre langue.

Where the eye mixes tradition and traduction

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
tradition
10 ch
traduction

Look-alike desk: tradition vs traduction

A purely visual mix-up. tradition (\tʁa.di.sjɔ̃\) and traduction (\tʁa.dyk.sjɔ̃\) 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 4354, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tradition is recorded at frequency rank #2,201, classified as anoun, pronounced \tʁa.di.sjɔ̃\. traduction is at rank #2,153, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁa.dyk.sjɔ̃\.

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 4354, this pair ranks #431,814 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tradition vs traduction

Shared letters: adinort. Private to "tradition": -. Private to "traduction": cu.

"tradition" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC  ·  "traduction" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • traditionrtadition · tardition · traddition · tradiiton · traditino · traditionn · traditoin · tradittion
  • traductionrtaduction · tarduction · tradcution · tradduction · traducction · traduciton · traductino · traductionn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tradition" for "traduction" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\tʁa.di.sjɔ̃\ versus \tʁa.dyk.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tradition" vs "traduction" - which ranks higher?
"traduction" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,153 in our French list, against #2,201 for "tradition". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tradition" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "traduction" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #431,814 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tradition" and "traduction" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "traction vs tradition". 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 #431,814 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