Which to use
“turban” is a noun and “turn” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,570
- “turban” frequency rank
- #20,594
- “turn” frequency rank
- 47164
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | turban | turn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Coiffure d’homme usitée chez les Orientaux et faite d’une longue bande d’étoffe, qui est roulée et entrelacée autour de la tête. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de turnen. |
Where the eye mixes turban and turn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses turban with turn
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: turban is \tyʁ.bɑ̃\ while turn is \tʊʁn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47164, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
turban is recorded at frequency rank #26,570, classified as anoun, pronounced \tyʁ.bɑ̃\. 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 47164, this pair ranks #189,073 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of turban vs turn
Shared letters: nrtu. Private to "turban": ab. Private to "turn": -.
"turban" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "turn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "turban" for "turn" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "turban" or "turn" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "turban" 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 #189,073 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "turban" 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 #189,073 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.