Which to use
“theme” and “tome” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,049
- “theme” frequency rank
- #2,801
- “tome” frequency rank
- 25850
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | theme | tome |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Thème, sujet ; argument. | Division intellectuelle d’un ouvrage, correspondant ou pas avec un volume. |
Where the eye mixes theme and tome
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: theme vs tome
A purely visual mix-up. theme (\ˈθim\) and tome (\tom\) 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 25850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
theme is recorded at frequency rank #23,049, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈθim\. tome is at rank #2,801, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tom\.
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 25850, this pair ranks #338,513 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of theme vs tome
Shared letters: emt. Private to "theme": h. Private to "tome": o.
"theme" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "tome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "theme" for "tome" ever safe?
Which is more common, "theme" or "tome"?
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 "theme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tome" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,513 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "theme" and "tome" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tem vs theme". 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 #338,513 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.