Which to use
“thu” and “tutu” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,228
- “thu” frequency rank
- #36,195
- “tutu” frequency rank
- 84423
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thu | tutu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme mutée de tu par spirantisation. | Cul, derrière, fesses. |
Where the eye mixes thu and tutu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. thu runs 3 letters (CCV) against tutu's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses thu with tutu
A purely visual mix-up. thu (\θɨː\) and tutu (\ty.ty\) 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 84423, 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\. tutu is at rank #36,195, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ty.ty\.
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 84423, this pair ranks #13,034 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of thu vs tutu
Shared letters: tu. Private to "thu": h. Private to "tutu": -.
"thu" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "tutu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tutu ← ttutu · ttuu · tuttu · tuut · uttu
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "thu" and "tutu" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "thu" or "tutu" show up more?
What to do next
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 "tutu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,034 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thu" and "tutu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thu vs tif". 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 #13,034 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.