toe vs tome, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“toe” and “tome” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,652
“toe” frequency rank: #2,801
“tome” frequency rank: 50453
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	toe	tome
Definition	Doigt de pied, orteil.	Division intellectuelle d’un ouvrage, correspondant ou pas avec un volume.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set toe and tome apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

toe

4 ch

tome

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. toe (\təʊ\) and tome (\tom\) 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 50453, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

toe is recorded at frequency rank #47,652, classified as anoun, pronounced \təʊ\. tome is at rank #2,801, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tom\.

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 50453, this pair ranks #162,489 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of toe vs tome

Shared letters: eot. Private to "toe": -. Private to "tome": m.

"toe" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "tome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

tome ← otme · tmoe · toem · tomme · ttome

Frequency comparison

toe#47,652

tome#2,801

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "toe" and "tome" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\təʊ\ versus \tom\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "toe" or "tome"?

"tome" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,801 in our French list, against #47,652 for "toe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering toe vs tome

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “toe” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable