Which to use
“trans” is an adjective and “très” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,565
- “trans” frequency rank
- #78
- “très” frequency rank
- 6643
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | trans | très |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Relatif à des substituants se trouvant de part et d’autre de l’axe d’une liaison chimique incapable de rotation libre. | Beaucoup, au plus haut point (devant un adjectif ou un adverbe). |
Where the eye mixes trans and très
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. trans runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against très's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between trans and très
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: trans is \tʁɑ̃s\ while très is \tʁɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6643, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
trans is recorded at frequency rank #6,565, classified as anadj, pronounced \tʁɑ̃s\. très is at rank #78, tagged as anadv, pronounced \tʁɛ\.
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 6643, this pair ranks #425,655 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of trans vs très
Shared letters: rst. Private to "trans": an. Private to "très": è.
"trans" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "très" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- trans ← rtans · tarns · tranns · transs · trasn · trnas · trrans · ttrans
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "trans" and "très" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "trans" or "très" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "trans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "très" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,655 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "trans" and "très" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trans vs trônes". 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 #425,655 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.