Which to use
“jon” is a preposition and “José” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,345
- “jon” frequency rank
- #5,575
- “José” frequency rank
- 15920
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | jon | José |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Par, sur, multiplié par, fois. | Prénom masculin. |
Where the eye mixes jon and José
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses jon with José
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jon is \ʒɔn\ while José is \ʒo.ze\. 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 (preposition vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
jon is recorded at frequency rank #10,345, classified as aprep, pronounced \ʒɔn\. José is at rank #5,575, tagged as aname, pronounced \ʒo.ze\.
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 15920, this pair ranks #390,253 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of jon vs José
Shared letters: jo. Private to "jon": n. Private to "José": sé.
"jon" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "José" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "jon" and "José" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "jon" or "José" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "jon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "José" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #390,253 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "jon" and "José" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jon vs jor". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #390,253 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.