Which to use
“tesson” and “toison” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,049
- “tesson” frequency rank
- #26,900
- “toison” frequency rank
- 66949
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tesson | toison |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Débris de bouteille cassée, de pot cassé. | Ensemble de la laine qui recouvre une brebis, un mouton. |
Where the eye mixes tesson and toison
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: tesson vs toison
A purely visual mix-up. tesson (\tɛ.sɔ̃\) and toison (\twa.zɔ̃\) 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 66949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tesson is recorded at frequency rank #40,049, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɛ.sɔ̃\. toison is at rank #26,900, tagged as anoun, pronounced \twa.zɔ̃\.
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 66949, this pair ranks #65,579 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tesson vs toison
Shared letters: nost. Private to "tesson": e. Private to "toison": i.
"tesson" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "toison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tesson" for "toison" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tesson" vs "toison" - which ranks higher?
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 "tesson" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "toison" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,579 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tesson" and "toison" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tesson vs tessons". 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 #65,579 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.