TomesvstriesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#46,822
“Tomes” frequency rank
#2,868
“tries” frequency rank
49690
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tomes tries
Definition A surname originating as a patronymic. plural of try

Letter map: Tomes vs tries

Shared letters muted; letters that set Tomes and tries apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. Tomes (CVCVC) and tries (CCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Tomes
5 ch
tries

Grammar separator: Tomes vs tries

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Tomes is aname and triesanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49690, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tomes is recorded at frequency rank #46,822, classified as aname. tries is at rank #2,868, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɹaɪz/.

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 49690, this pair ranks #181,256 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Tomes vs tries

Shared letters: est. Private to "Tomes": mo. Private to "tries": ir.

"Tomes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tries" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tomes ← otmes · tmoes · toems · tomess · tommes · tomse · ttomes
  • tries ← rties · treis · triess · trise · trries · ttries

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Tomes" and "tries" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tomes" is a name and "tries" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Tomes" or "tries"?
"tries" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,868 in our English list, against #46,822 for "Tomes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tomes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tries" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #181,256 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tomes" and "tries" 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 #181,256 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