Which to use
“talons” and “tons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,906
- “talons” frequency rank
- #12,272
- “tons” frequency rank
- 20178
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | talons | tons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de talon. | Pluriel de ton. |
Where the eye mixes talons and tons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: talons vs tons
A purely visual mix-up. talons (\ta.lɔ̃\) and tons (\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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
talons is recorded at frequency rank #7,906, classified as anoun, pronounced \ta.lɔ̃\. tons is at rank #12,272, tagged as anoun, 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 20178, this pair ranks #369,585 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of talons vs tons
Shared letters: nost. Private to "talons": al. Private to "tons": -.
"talons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "tons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "talons" and "tons" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "talons" vs "tons" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "talons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #369,585 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "talons" and "tons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tons vs tun". 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 #369,585 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.