tomvstomaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,582
“tom” frequency rank
#49,101
“toma” frequency rank
50683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tom toma
Definition The male of the domesticated cat, especially if not neutered. A semi-hard Italian cheese from Piedmont

Letter map: tom vs toma

Shared letters muted; letters that set tom and toma apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

3 ch
tom
4 ch
toma

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

tom and toma are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tom” sits inside “toma”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tom is recorded at frequency rank #1,582, classified as anoun, pronounced /tɒm/. toma is at rank #49,101, tagged as anoun.

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 50683, this pair ranks #172,075 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tom vs toma

Shared letters: mot. Private to "tom": -. Private to "toma": a.

"tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "toma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomaotma · tmoa · toam · tomma · ttoma

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tom" and "toma" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tom” sits inside “toma”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "tom" or "toma"?
"tom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,582 in our English list, against #49,101 for "toma". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list