trevstunWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: tre is a adjective, tun is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tre” is an adjective and “tun” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,924
“tre” frequency rank
#49,414
“tun” frequency rank
63338
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tre tun
Definition Trois. Craie glauconieuse.

Where the eye mixes tre and tun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
tre
3 ch
tun

Look-alike desk: tre vs tun

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tre is \ˈtɾɛ\ while tun is \tyn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63338, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tre is recorded at frequency rank #13,924, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈtɾɛ\. tun is at rank #49,414, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tyn\.

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 63338, this pair ranks #82,451 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tre vs tun

Shared letters: t. Private to "tre": er. Private to "tun": nu.

"tre" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "tun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tre" and "tun" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tre" is an adjective and "tun" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tre" or "tun"?
"tre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,924 in our French list, against #49,414 for "tun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #82,451 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tre" and "tun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tun". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #82,451 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