tomvstoutTell them apart

Which to use

“tom” and “tout” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,521
“tom” frequency rank
#42,186
“tout” frequency rank
44707
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tom tout
Definition ohne Inhalt; leer all

Where the eye mixes tom and tout

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
tom
4 ch
tout

Look-alike desk: tom vs tout

A purely visual mix-up. tom ([tum]) and tout ([tu]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tom is recorded at frequency rank #2,521, classified as anadj, pronounced [tum]. tout is at rank #42,186, tagged as anadj, pronounced [tu].

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 44707, this pair ranks #1,377,356 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tom vs tout

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tom": m. Private to "tout": u.

"tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tout" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • toutotut · totu · toutt · ttout · tuot

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tom" and "tout" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([tum] versus [tu]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "tom" or "tout" show up more?
"tom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,521 in our German list, against #42,186 for "tout". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tout" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,377,356 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tom" and "tout" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "taut vs tout". 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 #1,377,356 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list