Which to use
“tips” and “tos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,576
- “tips” frequency rank
- #48,234
- “tos” frequency rank
- 87810
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tips | tos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de tip. | Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique. |
Where the eye mixes tips and tos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tips and tos
A purely visual mix-up. tips (\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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87810, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tips is recorded at frequency rank #39,576, 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 87810, this pair ranks #7,785 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tips vs tos
Shared letters: st. Private to "tips": ip. Private to "tos": o.
"tips" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tips ← itps · tipps · tipss · tisp · tpis · ttips
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tips" and "tos" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tips" vs "tos" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tips" 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 #7,785 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tips" and "tos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tos". 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 #7,785 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.