traverservstraversésWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: traverser is a verb, traversés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#4,294
“traverser” frequency rank
#30,846
“traversés” frequency rank
35140
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature traverser traversés
Definition Passer à travers, d’un côté à l’autre. Masculin pluriel de traversé.

Same sound, different letters: traverser vs traversés

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. traverser and traversés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
traverser
9 ch
traversés

Ear matches; page differs - traverser and traversés

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: traverser and traversés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \tʁa.vɛʁ.se\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35140, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

traverser is recorded at frequency rank #4,294, classified as averb, pronounced \tʁa.vɛʁ.se\. traversés is at rank #30,846, tagged as anadj, 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 35140, this pair ranks #278,876 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of traverser vs traversés

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

"traverser" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "traversés" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "traverser" and "traversés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "traverser" is a verb and "traversés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "traverser" vs "traversés" - which ranks higher?
"traverser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,294 in our French list, against #30,846 for "traversés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "traverser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "traversés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #278,876 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "traverser" and "traversés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "traversés 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 #278,876 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