tongs

/\tɔ̃ɡ\/ noun

Letters

5 characters

Frequency Rank

#32,221

in French word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

tongs is aFrenchnoun. It means: Pluriel de tong. Pronounced \tɔ̃ɡ\. Often confused with tos and tous.

Key facts for tongs
PropertyValue
Headwordtongs
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tɔ̃ɡ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#32,221
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of tongs in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for tongs is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tɔ̃ɡ\. Corpus data places it at rank #32,221 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Pluriel de tong.".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for tongs, with forms such as "otngs", "tnogs", and "togns". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tos", "tous", "Tony", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is tongs, spelled T-O-N-G-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pluriel de tong.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: otngs,tnogs,togns,tonggs,tongss,tonngs,tonsg,ttongs

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for tongs

Misspelling Variants of "tongs"

otngs5tnogs5togns5tonggs6tongss6tonngs6tonsg5ttongs6
Misspelling Variants of "tongs"

Frequency rank: #32,221 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "tongs"?
"tongs" is spelled T-O-N-G-S. The IPA pronunciation is \tɔ̃ɡ\.
What does "tongs" mean?
As a noun, "tongs" means: Pluriel de tong.
What words are commonly confused with "tongs"?
"tongs" is commonly confused with "tos", "tous", "Tony". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "tongs"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tongs" is \tɔ̃ɡ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tongs" come from?
"tongs" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter T in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.