Which to use
“toe” and “toux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,652
- “toe” frequency rank
- #15,276
- “toux” frequency rank
- 62928
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | toe | toux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Doigt de pied, orteil. | Expiration spasmodique et bruyante de l’air, accompagnée d’un mouvement convulsif du larynx et de la trachée-artère. |
Where the eye mixes toe and toux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: toe vs toux
A purely visual mix-up. toe (\təʊ\) and toux (\tu\) 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 62928, 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\. toux is at rank #15,276, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tu\.
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 62928, this pair ranks #84,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of toe vs toux
Shared letters: ot. Private to "toe": e. Private to "toux": ux.
"toe" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "toux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- toux ← otux · touxx · toxu · ttoux · tuox
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "toe" and "toux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "toe" vs "toux" - which ranks higher?
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 "toux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #84,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "toe" and "toux" 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 #84,502 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.