Learn English – the difference between treble and triple

synonymsverbs

  • size of the workforce has been trebled.
  • size of the workforce has been tripled.

Can they be used interchangeably?Is this an English versus American thing?

I saw trebled used in this article.

Best Answer

Triple and treble are etymological twins, that is they have different phonological forms but the same etymological root.

In your example, according to their usage as intransitive verbs to be or become three times as great in number or amount they are interchangeable.

Yet there are specific contexts in which they have particular meaning such as in music, sports, places, transportation, science and technology, etc. where they cannot be used interchangeable.