tomevstypeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,247
“tome” frequency rank
#546
“type” frequency rank
22793
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tome type
Definition One in a series of volumes. A grouping based on shared characteristics; a class.

Where the eye mixes tome and type

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

4 ch
tome
4 ch
type

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tome (/təʊm/) and type (/taɪp/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22793, 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/. type is at rank #546, tagged as anoun, pronounced /taɪp/.

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 22793, this pair ranks #413,973 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tome vs type

Shared letters: et. Private to "tome": mo. Private to "type": py.

"tome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "type" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomeotme · tmoe · toem · tomme · ttome
  • typetpye · ttype · tyep · typpe · tyype · ytpe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tome" and "type" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/təʊm/ versus /taɪp/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tome" or "type"?
"type" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #546 in our English list, against #22,247 for "tome". 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