takesvstomesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#47,639
“takes” frequency rank
#11,493
“tomes” frequency rank
59132
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature takes tomes
Definition Pluriel de take. Pluriel de tome.

Where the eye mixes takes and tomes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. takes and tomes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
takes
5 ch
tomes

Why the eye confuses takes with tomes

A purely visual mix-up. takes (\tɛk\) and tomes (\tɔm\) 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 59132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

takes is recorded at frequency rank #47,639, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɛk\. tomes is at rank #11,493, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔm\.

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 59132, this pair ranks #104,892 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of takes vs tomes

Shared letters: est. Private to "takes": ak. Private to "tomes": mo.

"takes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tomes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • takesatkes · taeks · takess · takkes · takse · tkaes · ttakes
  • tomesotmes · tmoes · toems · tomess · tommes · tomse · ttomes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "takes" and "tomes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\tɛk\ versus \tɔm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "takes" or "tomes"?
"tomes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,493 in our French list, against #47,639 for "takes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "takes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tomes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #104,892 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "takes" and "tomes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "takes vs Takeshi". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #104,892 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