tacvstosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,369
“tac” frequency rank
#48,234
“tos” frequency rank
62603
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tac tos
Definition Nom vulgaire d’une sorte de gale à laquelle le cheval, le chien et le mouton sont le plus sujets. Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique.

Where the eye mixes tac and tos

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

3 ch
tac
3 ch
tos

Visual trap between tac and tos

A purely visual mix-up. tac (\tak\) and tos (\tos\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62603, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tac is recorded at frequency rank #14,369, classified as anoun, pronounced \tak\. tos is at rank #48,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tos\.

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 62603, this pair ranks #86,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tac vs tos

Shared letters: t. Private to "tac": ac. Private to "tos": os.

"tac" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tac" and "tos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\tak\ versus \tos\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tac" vs "tos" - which ranks higher?
"tac" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,369 in our French list, against #48,234 for "tos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "tac" and "tos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tac" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #86,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tac" and "tos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tos". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #86,258 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