tasvsthuWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,392
“tas” frequency rank
#48,228
“thu” frequency rank
50620
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tas thu
Definition Monceau, amas, accumulation de choses. Forme mutée de tu par spirantisation.

Where the eye mixes tas and thu

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

3 ch
tas
3 ch
thu

Look-alike desk: tas vs thu

A purely visual mix-up. tas (\tɑ\) and thu (\θɨː\) 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 50620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tas is recorded at frequency rank #2,392, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɑ\. thu is at rank #48,228, tagged as anoun, pronounced \θɨː\.

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 50620, this pair ranks #161,208 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tas vs thu

Shared letters: t. Private to "tas": as. Private to "thu": hu.

"tas" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "thu" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tas" for "thu" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\tɑ\ versus \θɨː\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "tas" or "thu" show up more?
"tas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,392 in our French list, against #48,228 for "thu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "tas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "thu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #161,208 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tas" and "thu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thu vs tif". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #161,208 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