Which to use
“tri” is a noun and “turn” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,011
- “tri” frequency rank
- #20,594
- “turn” frequency rank
- 27605
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tri | turn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de trier. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de turnen. |
Where the eye mixes tri and turn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses tri with turn
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tri is \tʁi\ while turn is \tʊʁn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tri is recorded at frequency rank #7,011, classified as anoun, pronounced \tʁi\. turn is at rank #20,594, tagged as averb, pronounced \tʊʁn\.
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 27605, this pair ranks #327,958 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tri vs turn
Shared letters: rt. Private to "tri": i. Private to "turn": nu.
"tri" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "turn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- turn ← trun · tturn · tunr · turnn · turrn · utrn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tri" for "turn" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "tri" or "turn" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "tri" and "turn" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tri" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "turn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #327,958 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tri" and "turn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "turf vs turn". 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 #327,958 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.