tomevsTomesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tome is a noun, Tomes is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tome” is a noun and “Tomes” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,247
“tome” frequency rank
#46,822
“Tomes” frequency rank
69069
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tome Tomes
Definition One in a series of volumes. A surname originating as a patronymic.

Letter map: tome vs Tomes

Shared letters muted; letters that set tome and Tomes apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. tome runs 4 letters (CVCV) against Tomes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
tome
5 ch
Tomes

Grammar separator: tome vs Tomes

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tome is anoun and Tomesaname. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tome” sits inside “Tomes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tome is recorded at frequency rank #22,247, classified as anoun, pronounced /təʊm/. Tomes is at rank #46,822, 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 69069, this pair ranks #56,104 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tome vs Tomes

Shared letters: emot. Private to "tome": -. Private to "Tomes": s.

"tome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Tomes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tome ← otme · tmoe · toem · tomme · ttome
  • Tomes ← otmes · tmoes · toems · tomess · tommes · tomse · ttomes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tome" and "Tomes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tome" is a noun and "Tomes" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tome" vs "Tomes" - which ranks higher?
"tome" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,247 in our English list, against #46,822 for "Tomes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "tome" vs "Tomes" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tome" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tomes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,104 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tome" and "Tomes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tomes 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 #56,104 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