Which to use
“tribunes” and “tribus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,870
- “tribunes” frequency rank
- #7,766
- “tribus” frequency rank
- 19636
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tribunes | tribus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de tribune. | Pluriel de tribu. |
Where the eye mixes tribunes and tribus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. tribunes runs 8 letters (CCVCVCVC) against tribus's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: tribunes vs tribus
A purely visual mix-up. tribunes (\tʁi.byn\) and tribus (\tʁi.by\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tribunes is recorded at frequency rank #11,870, classified as anoun, pronounced \tʁi.byn\. tribus is at rank #7,766, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁi.by\.
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 19636, this pair ranks #372,303 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tribunes vs tribus
Shared letters: birstu. Private to "tribunes": en. Private to "tribus": -.
"tribunes" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC · "tribus" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tribunes" for "tribus" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tribunes" or "tribus"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tribunes" and "tribus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tribunes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tribus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #372,303 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tribunes" and "tribus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tribus vs trips". 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 #372,303 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.