Which to use
“tie” and “tos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,051
- “tie” frequency rank
- #48,234
- “tos” frequency rank
- 71285
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tie | tos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument des ouvriers qui font des ouvrages de raclerie dans les forêts. | Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique. |
Where the eye mixes tie and tos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses tie with tos
A purely visual mix-up. tie (\ti\) and tos (\tos\) 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 71285, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tie is recorded at frequency rank #23,051, classified as anoun, pronounced \ti\. tos is at rank #48,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tos\.
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 71285, this pair ranks #48,121 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tie vs tos
Shared letters: t. Private to "tie": ei. Private to "tos": os.
"tie" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tie" for "tos" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "tie" or "tos" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tie" and "tos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #48,121 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tie" and "tos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tos". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #48,121 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.