toevstomesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,652
“toe” frequency rank
#11,493
“tomes” frequency rank
59145
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature toe tomes
Definition Doigt de pied, orteil. Pluriel de tome.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch
toe
5 ch
tomes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. toe (\təʊ\) and tomes (\tɔm\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59145, 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\. tomes is at rank #11,493, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔm\.

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 59145, this pair ranks #104,807 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of toe vs tomes

Shared letters: eot. Private to "toe": -. Private to "tomes": ms.

"toe" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "tomes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomesotmes · tmoes · toems · tomess · tommes · tomse · ttomes

Frequency comparison

toe#47,652
tomes#11,493

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "toe" and "tomes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\təʊ\ versus \tɔm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "toe" or "tomes"?
"tomes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,493 in our French list, against #47,652 for "toe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering toe vs tomes

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list