Which to use
“thé” is a noun and “ton” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,575
- “thé” frequency rank
- #127
- “ton” frequency rank
- 3702
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thé | ton |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Boisson chaude préparée à partir d’une infusion de feuilles du théier. | Déterminant possessif dont le possesseur est la deuxième personne du singulier et le possédé est masculin singulier. |
Where the eye mixes thé and ton
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses thé with ton
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thé is \te\ while ton is \tɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3702, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thé is recorded at frequency rank #3,575, classified as anoun, pronounced \te\. ton is at rank #127, tagged as adet, 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 3702, this pair ranks #433,389 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of thé vs ton
Shared letters: t. Private to "thé": hé. Private to "ton": no.
"thé" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "ton" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thé" for "ton" ever safe?
Frequency check: "thé" vs "ton" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "thé" and "ton" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "thé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ton" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,389 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thé" and "ton" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thé vs tif". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #433,389 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.