Which to use
“thu” is a noun and “ton” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,228
- “thu” frequency rank
- #127
- “ton” frequency rank
- 48355
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thu | ton |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme mutée de tu par spirantisation. | Déterminant possessif dont le possesseur est la deuxième personne du singulier et le possédé est masculin singulier. |
Where the eye mixes thu and ton
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between thu and ton
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thu is \θɨː\ 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 48355, 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\. 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 48355, this pair ranks #179,579 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of thu vs ton
Shared letters: t. Private to "thu": hu. Private to "ton": no.
"thu" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "ton" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "thu" for "ton" ever safe?
Which is more common, "thu" or "ton"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "thu" 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 #179,579 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thu" and "ton" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thu vs tif". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #179,579 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.