Tonne

[ˈtɔnə]

/[ˈtɔnə]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“Tonne” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #9,468) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#9,468
frequency rank, German
2,684
“T” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - rundes Behältnis, oft aus Metall bestehend, mit Deckel und/oder Spundloch

Corpus desk

Index DE-tonne · Tonne · German

Tonne · rank #9,468 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #9,468
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,684
  • PHOTO-FINISH TG

Nearest frequency peer: TG (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „Tonne“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „Tonne“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Tonne vs tore
40% similar
Tonne vs Tote
60% similar
Tonne vs town
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Tonne
PropertyValue
HeadwordTonne
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈtɔnə]
Letters5
Frequency rank#9,468
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „Tonne“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).Tonneliegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „TG“ (#9,467), „Triumph“ (#9,469), „Tarif“ (#9,466). Unter 2,684 „T“-Lemmata liegt „Tonne“ bei #9,468. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for Tonne is neighbouring look-alikes ("tore", "Tote", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced [ˈtɔnə]. Frequency #9,468 among 2,684 “T” headwords. 5 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for Tonne, with forms such as "otnne", "tnone", and "tone". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tore", "Tote", "town", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is Tonne, spelled T-O-N-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    rundes Behältnis, oft aus Metall bestehend, mit Deckel und/oder Spundloch
  2. 2
    1t = 1000 kg
  3. 3
    kurz für Bruttoregistertonne
  4. 4
    Seefahrtszeichen
  5. 5
    großer, dicker Mensch

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Tonne appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Heute leert die Müllabfuhr die Tonnen.
  2. Der radioaktive Abfall wird in Tonnen gelagert.

Synonyms

BottichFassMegagrammSeezeichen

This word in other languages

barrel(English)barril(Español)tonneau(Français)barril(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • otnne
  • tnone
  • tone
  • ttonne

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Tonne - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

otnne2tnone2tone1ttonne1
Edit distance from "Tonne"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Tonne"?
"Tonne" is spelled T-O-N-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈtɔnə].
What does "Tonne" mean?
As a noun, "Tonne" means: rundes Behältnis, oft aus Metall bestehend, mit Deckel und/oder Spundloch
What words are commonly confused with "Tonne"?
"Tonne" is commonly confused with "tore", "Tote", "town". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Tonne"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Tonne" is [ˈtɔnə]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Tonne" come from?
"Tonne" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Tonne", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Tarif#9,466tanzt#9,465Ämter#9,489right#9,445

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list