tavstunWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ta is a determiner, tun is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ta” is a determiner and “tun” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#181
“ta” frequency rank
#49,414
“tun” frequency rank
49595
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ta tun
Definition Déterminant marquant la possession d’un objet (de genre féminin) appartenant à celui (de nombre singulier) à qui l’on parle. Craie glauconieuse.

Where the eye mixes ta and tun

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

2 ch
ta
3 ch
tun

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ta is \ta\ while tun is \tyn\. 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 (determiner vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ta is recorded at frequency rank #181, classified as adet, pronounced \ta\. tun is at rank #49,414, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tyn\.

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 49595, this pair ranks #169,358 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ta vs tun

Shared letters: t. Private to "ta": a. Private to "tun": nu.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ta" and "tun" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ta" is a determiner and "tun" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ta" or "tun"?
"ta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #181 in our French list, against #49,414 for "tun". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "ta" and "tun". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #169,358 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ta" and "tun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tun". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list