Which to use
“torus” and “tour” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,104
- “torus” frequency rank
- #1,112
- “tour” frequency rank
- 50216
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | torus | tour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The standard representation of such a space in 3-dimensional Euclidean space: a surface or solid formed by rotating a closed curve, especially a circle, about a line which lies in the same plane but does not intersect it (e.g. like a ring doughnut). | A journey through a particular building, estate, country, etc. |
Where the eye mixes torus and tour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. torus runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against tour's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses torus with tour
A purely visual mix-up. torus (/ˈtɔː.ɹəs/) and tour (/tɔː(ɹ)/) 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 50216, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
torus is recorded at frequency rank #49,104, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɔː.ɹəs/. tour is at rank #1,112, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɔː(ɹ)/.
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 50216, this pair ranks #176,269 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of torus vs tour
Shared letters: ortu. Private to "torus": s. Private to "tour": -.
"torus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "tour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "torus" and "tour" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "torus" or "tour" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "torus" and "tour" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "torus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #176,269 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "torus" and "tour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "toots 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 #176,269 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.