Which to use
“trips” and “trous” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,411
- “trips” frequency rank
- #4,813
- “trous” frequency rank
- 54224
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | trips | trous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de trip. | Pluriel de trou. |
Where the eye mixes trips and trous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. trips (CCVCC) and trous (CCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses trips with trous
A purely visual mix-up. trips (\tʁip\) and trous (\tʁu\) 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 54224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
trips is recorded at frequency rank #49,411, classified as anoun, pronounced \tʁip\. trous is at rank #4,813, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁu\.
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 54224, this pair ranks #135,418 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of trips vs trous
Shared letters: rst. Private to "trips": ip. Private to "trous": ou.
"trips" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "trous" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "trips" and "trous" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "trips" or "trous" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "trips" and "trous" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "trips" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "trous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #135,418 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "trips" and "trous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trapp 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 #135,418 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.