traverséesvstraverserWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: traversées is a noun, traverser is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“traversées” is a noun and “traverser” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,494
“traversées” frequency rank
#4,294
“traverser” frequency rank
25788
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature traversées traverser
Definition Pluriel de traversée. Passer à travers, d’un côté à l’autre.

Same sound, different letters: traversées vs traverser

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. traversées runs 10 letters (CCVCVCCVVC) against traverser's 9 (CCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
traversées
9 ch
traverser

Homophone desk: traversées vs traverser

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: traversées and traverser carry the same recorded pronunciation, \tʁa.vɛʁ.se\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25788, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

traversées is recorded at frequency rank #21,494, classified as anoun, pronounced \tʁa.vɛʁ.se\. traverser is at rank #4,294, tagged as averb, pronounced \tʁa.vɛʁ.se\.

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 25788, this pair ranks #338,843 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of traversées vs traverser

Shared letters: aerstv. Private to "traversées": é. Private to "traverser": -.

"traversées" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCCVVC  ·  "traverser" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • traverser ← rtaverser · tarverser · traevrser · traveresr · traverrser · traverserr · traversre · traversser

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "traversées" and "traverser" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "traversées" is a noun and "traverser" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "traversées" or "traverser"?
"traverser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,294 in our French list, against #21,494 for "traversées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "traversées" / "traverser". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "traversées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "traverser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #338,843 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "traversées" and "traverser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "traversées vs traversier". 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 #338,843 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