Which to use
“tip” and “tos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,150
- “tip” frequency rank
- #48,234
- “tos” frequency rank
- 73384
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tip | tos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pourboire. | Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique. |
Where the eye mixes tip and tos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: tip vs tos
A purely visual mix-up. tip (\tip\) 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 73384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tip is recorded at frequency rank #25,150, classified as anoun, pronounced \tip\. 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 73384, this pair ranks #40,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tip vs tos
Shared letters: t. Private to "tip": ip. Private to "tos": os.
"tip" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tip" and "tos" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "tip" or "tos"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tip" 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 #40,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tip" and "tos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tos". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #40,653 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.