trimestriel vs trimestriels

Which to use

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

#25,844
“trimestriel” frequency rank: #42,097
“trimestriels” frequency rank: 67941
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	trimestriel	trimestriels
Definition	Qui se fait, qui paraît, qui revient tous les trois mois.	Masculin pluriel de trimestriel.

Same sound, different letters: trimestriel vs trimestriels

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters. trimestriel runs 11 letters (CCVCVCCCVVC) against trimestriels's 12 (CCVCVCCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch

trimestriel

12 ch

trimestriels

Same sound, different spelling - trimestriel / trimestriels

This is the hard kind. trimestriel and trimestriels are pronounced identically (\tʁi.mɛs.tʁi.jɛl\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “trimestriel” sits inside “trimestriels”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

trimestriel is recorded at frequency rank #25,844, classified as anadj, pronounced \tʁi.mɛs.tʁi.jɛl\. trimestriels is at rank #42,097, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tʁi.mɛs.tʁi.jɛl\.

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 67941, this pair ranks #61,312 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of trimestriel vs trimestriels

Shared letters: eilmrst. Private to "trimestriel": -. Private to "trimestriels": -.

"trimestriel" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCCCVVC · "trimestriels" · 12 letters · shape CCVCVCCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

trimestriel ← rtimestriel · tirmestriel · triemstriel · trimesrtiel · trimesstriel · trimestirel · trimestreil · trimestriell
trimestriels ← rtimestriels · tirmestriels · triemstriels · trimesrtiels · trimesstriels · trimestirels · trimestreils · trimestriells

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "trimestriel" for "trimestriels" ever safe?

No. They are pronounced the same (\tʁi.mɛs.tʁi.jɛl\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "trimestriel" or "trimestriels"?

"trimestriel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,844 in our French list, against #42,097 for "trimestriels". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "trimestriel" / "trimestriels". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

Full dictionary entry for "trimestriel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "trimestriels" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #61,312 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"trimestriel" and "trimestriels" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trimestrielle vs trimestriels". 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 #61,312 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.