Which to use
“tribunal” and “tribunes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,405
- “tribunal” frequency rank
- #11,870
- “tribunes” frequency rank
- 13275
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tribunal | tribunes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Siège du juge, du magistrat. | Pluriel de tribune. |
Where the eye mixes tribunal and tribunes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. tribunal and tribunes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses tribunal with tribunes
A purely visual mix-up. tribunal (\tʁi.by.nal\) and tribunes (\tʁi.byn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tribunal is recorded at frequency rank #1,405, classified as anoun, pronounced \tʁi.by.nal\. tribunes is at rank #11,870, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁi.byn\.
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 13275, this pair ranks #401,697 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tribunal vs tribunes
Shared letters: binrtu. Private to "tribunal": al. Private to "tribunes": es.
"tribunal" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC · "tribunes" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tribunal" and "tribunes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "tribunal" or "tribunes"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tribunal" and "tribunes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tribunal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tribunes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,697 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tribunal" and "tribunes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tribunal vs triennal". 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 #401,697 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.