Which to use
“tu” is a pronoun and “turn” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40
- “tu” frequency rank
- #20,594
- “turn” frequency rank
- 20634
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tu | turn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pronom personnel sujet de la deuxième personne du singulier. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de turnen. |
Where the eye mixes tu and turn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses tu with turn
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tu is \ty\ while turn is \tʊʁn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “tu” sits inside “turn”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tu is recorded at frequency rank #40, classified as apron, pronounced \ty\. turn is at rank #20,594, tagged as averb, pronounced \tʊʁn\.
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 20634, this pair ranks #367,294 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tu vs turn
Shared letters: tu. Private to "tu": -. Private to "turn": nr.
"tu" · 2 letters · shape CV · "turn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- turn ← trun · tturn · tunr · turnn · turrn · utrn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tu" for "turn" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tu" vs "turn" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "turn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #367,294 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tu" and "turn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "turf vs turn". 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 #367,294 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.