Which to use
“thons” and “thou” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,227
- “thons” frequency rank
- #44,777
- “thou” frequency rank
- 93004
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thons | thou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de thon. | Écluse en pierre ou en béton permettant de vider lentement les étangs de la Dombes dans l'Ain. |
Where the eye mixes thons and thou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between thons and thou
A purely visual mix-up. thons (\tɔ̃\) and thou (\tu\) 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 93004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thons is recorded at frequency rank #48,227, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔ̃\. thou is at rank #44,777, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tu\.
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 93004, this pair ranks #2,595 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of thons vs thou
Shared letters: hot. Private to "thons": ns. Private to "thou": u.
"thons" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "thou" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thons" for "thou" ever safe?
Frequency check: "thons" vs "thou" - 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 "thons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,595 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thons" and "thou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thons vs trônes". 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 #2,595 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.