tribusvstriqueConfusable pair

Which to use

“tribus” and “trique” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,766
“tribus” frequency rank
#46,501
“trique” frequency rank
54267
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tribus trique
Definition Pluriel de tribu. Gros bâton.

Where the eye mixes tribus and trique

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tribus (CCVCVC) and trique (CCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
tribus
6 ch
trique

Look-alike desk: tribus vs trique

A purely visual mix-up. tribus (\tʁi.by\) and trique (\tʁik\) 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 54267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tribus is recorded at frequency rank #7,766, classified as anoun, pronounced \tʁi.by\. trique is at rank #46,501, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁik\.

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 54267, this pair ranks #135,177 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tribus vs trique

Shared letters: irtu. Private to "tribus": bs. Private to "trique": eq.

"tribus" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "trique" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tribus ← rtibus · tirbus · trbius · tribbus · tribsu · tribuss · triubs · trribus
  • trique ← rtique · tirque · triqeu · triqque · triuqe · trqiue · trrique · ttrique

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tribus" for "trique" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\tʁi.by\ versus \tʁik\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tribus" or "trique"?
"tribus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,766 in our French list, against #46,501 for "trique". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "tribus" and "trique" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tribus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #135,177 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tribus" and "trique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "traqués vs trique". 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 #135,177 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