Which to use
“thés” and “tos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,280
- “thés” frequency rank
- #48,234
- “tos” frequency rank
- 79514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thés | tos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de thé. | Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique. |
Where the eye mixes thés and tos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. thés runs 4 letters (CCVC) against tos's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses thés with tos
A purely visual mix-up. thés (\te\) and tos (\tos\) 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 79514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thés is recorded at frequency rank #31,280, classified as anoun, pronounced \te\. tos is at rank #48,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tos\.
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 79514, this pair ranks #23,097 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of thés vs tos
Shared letters: st. Private to "thés": hé. Private to "tos": o.
"thés" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "thés" and "tos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "thés" or "tos"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "thés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,097 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thés" and "tos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tos". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #23,097 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.