Which to use
“travaillent” and “travailler” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,424
- “travaillent” frequency rank
- #780
- “travailler” frequency rank
- 4204
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | travaillent | travailler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de travailler. | Tourmenter ; soumettre à une gêne ; causer de la peine ; torturer psychologiquement. |
Where the eye mixes travaillent and travailler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. travaillent runs 11 letters (CCVCVVCCVCC) against travailler's 10 (CCVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: travaillent vs travailler
A purely visual mix-up. travaillent (\tʁa.vaj\) and travailler (\tʁa.va.je\) 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 4204, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
travaillent is recorded at frequency rank #3,424, classified as averb, pronounced \tʁa.vaj\. travailler is at rank #780, tagged as averb, pronounced \tʁa.va.je\.
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 4204, this pair ranks #432,198 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of travaillent vs travailler
Shared letters: aeilrtv. Private to "travaillent": n. Private to "travailler": -.
"travaillent" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVVCCVCC · "travailler" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- travaillent ← rtavaillent · tarvaillent · traavillent · travailelnt · travailent · travaillennt · travaillentt · travailletn
- travailler ← rtavailler · tarvailler · traaviller · travailelr · travailer · travaillerr · travaillre · travaliler
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "travaillent" and "travailler" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "travaillent" vs "travailler" - which ranks higher?
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 "travaillent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "travailler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,198 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "travaillent" and "travailler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "travaillent vs travailleront". 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 #432,198 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.