taresvstomesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#43,689
“tares” frequency rank
#11,493
“tomes” frequency rank
55182
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tares tomes
Definition Pluriel de tare. Pluriel de tome.

Where the eye mixes tares and tomes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tares 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
tares
5 ch
tomes

Look-alike desk: tares vs tomes

A purely visual mix-up. tares (\taʁ\) 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 55182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tares is recorded at frequency rank #43,689, classified as anoun, pronounced \taʁ\. 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 55182, this pair ranks #129,122 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tares vs tomes

Shared letters: est. Private to "tares": ar. Private to "tomes": mo.

"tares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tomes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tares ← atres · taers · taress · tarres · traes · ttares
  • tomes ← otmes · tmoes · toems · tomess · tommes · tomse · ttomes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tares" and "tomes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\taʁ\ versus \tɔm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tares" vs "tomes" - which ranks higher?
"tomes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,493 in our French list, against #43,689 for "tares". 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 "tares" 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 #129,122 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tares" and "tomes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tares vs tories". 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 #129,122 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