Which to use
“thu” and “toe” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,228
- “thu” frequency rank
- #47,652
- “toe” frequency rank
- 95880
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thu | toe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme mutée de tu par spirantisation. | Doigt de pied, orteil. |
Where the eye mixes thu and toe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. thu (CCV) and toe (CVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between thu and toe
A purely visual mix-up. thu (\θɨː\) and toe (\təʊ\) 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 95880, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thu is recorded at frequency rank #48,228, classified as anoun, pronounced \θɨː\. toe is at rank #47,652, tagged as anoun, pronounced \təʊ\.
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 95880, this pair ranks #893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of thu vs toe
Shared letters: t. Private to "thu": hu. Private to "toe": eo.
"thu" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "toe" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thu" for "toe" ever safe?
Frequency check: "thu" vs "toe" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "thu" and "toe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "thu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "toe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thu" and "toe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thu vs tif". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #893 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.