Which to use
“teck” and “tic” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,910
- “teck” frequency rank
- #10,799
- “tic” frequency rank
- 56709
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | teck | tic |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Grand arbre de la famille des verbénacées, qui croît dans l’Inde, et dont le bois imputrescible est recherché pour la construction des vaisseaux. | Habitude vicieuse que contractent les chevaux et les bêtes à cornes. |
Where the eye mixes teck and tic
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses teck with tic
A purely visual mix-up. teck (\tɛk\) and tic (\tik\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
teck is recorded at frequency rank #45,910, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɛk\. tic is at rank #10,799, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tik\.
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 56709, this pair ranks #119,408 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of teck vs tic
Shared letters: ct. Private to "teck": ek. Private to "tic": i.
"teck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "tic" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- teck ← etck · tcek · tecck · teckk · tekc · tteck
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "teck" for "tic" ever safe?
Which is more common, "teck" or "tic"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "teck" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tic" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #119,408 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "teck" and "tic" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teach vs teck". 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 #119,408 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.