Which to use
“those” is a pronoun and “tone” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,354
- “those” frequency rank
- #44,488
- “tone” frequency rank
- 77842
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | those | tone |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Esos, esas, los, aquellos, aquellas, plural de that. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de tonar. |
Where the eye mixes those and tone
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: those vs tone
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: those is /ðəʊz/ while tone is [ˈt̪one]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77842, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
those is recorded at frequency rank #33,354, classified as apron, pronounced /ðəʊz/. tone is at rank #44,488, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪one].
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 77842, this pair ranks #15,332 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of those vs tone
Shared letters: eot. Private to "those": hs. Private to "tone": n.
"those" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "tone" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "those" for "tone" ever safe?
Frequency check: "those" vs "tone" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "those" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,332 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "those" and "tone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tone vs toys". 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 #15,332 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.