tavstonConfusable pair

Which to use

“ta” and “ton” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#181
“ta” frequency rank
#127
“ton” frequency rank
308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ta ton
Definition Déterminant marquant la possession d’un objet (de genre féminin) appartenant à celui (de nombre singulier) à qui l’on parle. Déterminant possessif dont le possesseur est la deuxième personne du singulier et le possédé est masculin singulier.

Where the eye mixes ta and ton

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
ta
3 ch
ton

Why the eye confuses ta with ton

A purely visual mix-up. ta (\ta\) and ton (\tɔ̃\) 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 308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ta is recorded at frequency rank #181, classified as adet, pronounced \ta\. ton is at rank #127, tagged as adet, pronounced \tɔ̃\.

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 308, this pair ranks #439,839 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ta vs ton

Shared letters: t. Private to "ta": a. Private to "ton": no.

"ta" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "ton" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ta" for "ton" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ta\ versus \tɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ta" or "ton"?
"ton" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #127 in our French list, against #181 for "ta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ton" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #439,839 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ta" and "ton" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ta vs tif". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #439,839 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list