TombsvsToursWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,718
“Tombs” frequency rank
#5,745
“Tours” frequency rank
24463
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tombs Tours
Definition A surname originating as a patronymic. A city, the largest in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France and the capital of Indre-et-Loire department.

Letter map: Tombs vs Tours

Shared letters muted; letters that set Tombs and Tours apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
Tombs
5 ch
Tours

Pair insight - Tombs / Tours

Tombs and Tours 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tombs is recorded at frequency rank #18,718, classified as aname. Tours is at rank #5,745, tagged as aname.

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 24463, this pair ranks #401,760 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Tombs vs Tours

Shared letters: ost. Private to "Tombs": bm. Private to "Tours": ru.

"Tombs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Tours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tombsotmbs · tmobs · tobms · tombbs · tombss · tommbs · tomsb · ttombs
  • Toursoturs · tourrs · tourss · tousr · ttours · tuors

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Tombs" for "Tours" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Tombs" vs "Tours" - which ranks higher?
"Tours" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,745 in our English list, against #18,718 for "Tombs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Tombs" and "Tours".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tombs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #401,760 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tombs" and "Tours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tombs vs torus". 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 #401,760 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list