TonsvsTourTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,547
“Tons” frequency rank
#1,574
“Tour” frequency rank
50121
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tons Tour
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Ton Reise, Weg oder Bewegung mit in der Regel identischem Ausgangs- und Zielort

Where the eye mixes Tons and Tour

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

4 ch
Tons
4 ch
Tour

Why the eye confuses Tons with Tour

A purely visual mix-up. Tons ([toːns]) and Tour ([tuːɐ̯]) 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 50121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tons is recorded at frequency rank #48,547, classified as anoun, pronounced [toːns]. Tour is at rank #1,574, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tuːɐ̯].

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 50121, this pair ranks #1,185,857 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Tons vs Tour

Shared letters: ot. Private to "Tons": ns. Private to "Tour": ru.

"Tons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Tour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tonsotns · tnos · tonns · tonss · tosn · ttons
  • Tourotur · toru · tourr · ttour · tuor

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Tons" and "Tour" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([toːns] versus [tuːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Tons" or "Tour"?
"Tour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,574 in our German list, against #48,547 for "Tons". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Tons" and "Tour" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,185,857 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tons" and "Tour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tine vs Tons". 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 #1,185,857 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