tome vs trove, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#22,247
“tome” frequency rank: #27,683
“trove” frequency rank: 49930
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	tome	trove
Definition	One in a series of volumes.	A treasure trove; a collection of treasure.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tome and trove apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

tome

5 ch

trove

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tome (/təʊm/) and trove (/tɹəʊv/) 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 49930, 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/. trove is at rank #27,683, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɹəʊv/.

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 49930, this pair ranks #178,943 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tome vs trove

Shared letters: eot. Private to "tome": m. Private to "trove": rv.

"tome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "trove" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

tome ← otme · tmoe · toem · tomme · ttome
trove ← rtove · torve · troev · trovve · trrove · trvoe · ttrove

Frequency comparison

tome#22,247

trove#27,683

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tome" and "trove" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/təʊm/ versus /tɹəʊv/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "tome" or "trove"?

"tome" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,247 in our English list, against #27,683 for "trove". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tome vs trove

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tome” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable