tomevstorWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,247
“tome” frequency rank
#13,625
“tor” frequency rank
35872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tome tor
Definition One in a series of volumes. A craggy outcrop of rock on the summit of a hill, created by the erosion and weathering of rock.

Where the eye mixes tome and tor

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

4 ch
tome
3 ch
tor

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tome (/təʊm/) and tor (/tɔː/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35872, 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/. tor is at rank #13,625, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɔː/.

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 35872, this pair ranks #308,196 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tome vs tor

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tome": em. Private to "tor": r.

"tome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tor" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomeotme · tmoe · toem · tomme · ttome

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tome" and "tor" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/təʊm/ versus /tɔː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tome" or "tor"?
"tor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,625 in our English list, against #22,247 for "tome". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list