tabvstayTell them apart

Which to use

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

#20,865
“tab” frequency rank
#45,907
“tay” frequency rank
66772
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tab tay
Definition Vignette attenant à un timbre situé en bord de feuille (ce terme est généralement utilisé pour parler des vignettes de bas de feuille des timbres israéliens). Thaïlandais (habitant de la Thaïlande).

Where the eye mixes tab and tay

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
tab
3 ch
tay

Visual trap between tab and tay

A purely visual mix-up. tab (\tab\) and tay (\tɑj\) 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 a single letter - b in “tab” becomes y in “tay”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66772, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tab is recorded at frequency rank #20,865, classified as anoun, pronounced \tab\. tay is at rank #45,907, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɑj\.

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 66772, this pair ranks #66,308 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tab vs tay

Shared letters: at. Private to "tab": b. Private to "tay": y.

"tab" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tay" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tab" and "tay" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\tab\ versus \tɑj\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tab" or "tay"?
"tab" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,865 in our French list, against #45,907 for "tay". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tab" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tay" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,308 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tab" and "tay" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tay vs tif". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #66,308 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