Which to use
“thug” and “toux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,229
- “thug” frequency rank
- #15,276
- “toux” frequency rank
- 63505
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thug | toux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Membre d’une secte indienne qui pratiquait la strangulation rituelle. | Expiration spasmodique et bruyante de l’air, accompagnée d’un mouvement convulsif du larynx et de la trachée-artère. |
Where the eye mixes thug and toux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses thug with toux
A purely visual mix-up. thug (\tœɡ\) and toux (\tu\) 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 63505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thug is recorded at frequency rank #48,229, classified as anoun, pronounced \tœɡ\. toux is at rank #15,276, 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 63505, this pair ranks #81,624 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of thug vs toux
Shared letters: tu. Private to "thug": gh. Private to "toux": ox.
"thug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "toux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "thug" and "toux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "thug" or "toux"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "thug" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "toux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #81,624 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thug" and "toux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thug vs tun". 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 #81,624 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.