Which to use
“très” is an adverb and “true” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #78
- “très” frequency rank
- #12,495
- “true” frequency rank
- 12573
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | très | true |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Beaucoup, au plus haut point (devant un adjectif ou un adverbe). | Vrai , vraie. |
Where the eye mixes très and true
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses très with true
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: très is \tʁɛ\ while true is \tɹu\. 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 (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
très is recorded at frequency rank #78, classified as anadv, pronounced \tʁɛ\. true is at rank #12,495, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tɹu\.
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 12573, this pair ranks #404,672 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of très vs true
Shared letters: rt. Private to "très": sè. Private to "true": eu.
"très" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "true" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- true ← rtue · treu · trrue · ttrue
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "très" and "true" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "très" vs "true" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "très" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "true" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,672 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "très" and "true" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "true vs tun". 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 #404,672 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.