Which to use
“toe” and “tory” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,652
- “toe” frequency rank
- #29,176
- “tory” frequency rank
- 76828
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | toe | tory |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Doigt de pied, orteil. | Nom qu’on a donné en Angleterre aux partisans de Charles II, et qui depuis est resté le nom générique du parti conservateur. |
Where the eye mixes toe and tory
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. toe runs 3 letters (CVV) against tory's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between toe and tory
A purely visual mix-up. toe (\təʊ\) and tory (\tɔ.ʁi\) 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 76828, 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\. tory is at rank #29,176, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.ʁi\.
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 76828, this pair ranks #30,068 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of toe vs tory
Shared letters: ot. Private to "toe": e. Private to "tory": ry.
"toe" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "tory" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tory ← otry · torry · toryy · toyr · ttory
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "toe" and "tory" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "toe" or "tory"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "toe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tory" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,068 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "toe" and "tory" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs toe". 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 #30,068 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.