tranquillevstranquillesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,154
“tranquille” frequency rank
#12,687
“tranquilles” frequency rank
14841
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tranquille tranquilles
Definition Qui est paisible, calme, sans agitation. Pluriel de tranquille.

Same sound, different letters: tranquille vs tranquilles

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. tranquille runs 10 letters (CCVCCVVCCV) against tranquilles's 11 (CCVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
tranquille
11 ch
tranquilles

Same sound, different spelling - tranquille / tranquilles

This is the hard kind. tranquille and tranquilles are pronounced identically (\tʁɑ̃.kil\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tranquille” sits inside “tranquilles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14841, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tranquille is recorded at frequency rank #2,154, classified as anadj, pronounced \tʁɑ̃.kil\. tranquilles is at rank #12,687, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tʁɑ̃.kil\.

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 14841, this pair ranks #394,985 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tranquille vs tranquilles

Shared letters: aeilnqrtu. Private to "tranquille": -. Private to "tranquilles": s.

"tranquille" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCVVCCV  ·  "tranquilles" · 11 letters · shape CCVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tranquille ← rtanquille · tarnquille · trannquille · tranqiulle · tranqquille · tranquile · tranquilel · tranqulile
  • tranquilles ← rtanquilles · tarnquilles · trannquilles · tranqiulles · tranqquilles · tranquilels · tranquiles · tranquilless

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tranquille" and "tranquilles" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\tʁɑ̃.kil\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "tranquille" or "tranquilles"?
"tranquille" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,154 in our French list, against #12,687 for "tranquilles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tranquille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tranquilles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #394,985 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tranquille" and "tranquilles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tranquilles vs tranquillou". 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 #394,985 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