Which to use
“toe” and “totem” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,652
- “toe” frequency rank
- #23,713
- “totem” frequency rank
- 71365
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | toe | totem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Doigt de pied, orteil. | Aïeul animal ou végétal dans la cosmogonie totémique. |
Where the eye mixes toe and totem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: toe vs totem
A purely visual mix-up. toe (\təʊ\) and totem (\tɔ.tɛm\) 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 71365, 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\. totem is at rank #23,713, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.tɛm\.
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 71365, this pair ranks #47,809 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of toe vs totem
Shared letters: eot. Private to "toe": -. Private to "totem": m.
"toe" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "totem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- totem ← ottem · toetm · totemm · totme · tottem · ttoem · ttotem
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "toe" and "totem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "toe" or "totem" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "toe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "totem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,809 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "toe" and "totem" 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 #47,809 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.