tokenvstomeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,832
“token” frequency rank
#2,801
“tome” frequency rank
51633
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature token tome
Definition Lexème ou lexie. Division intellectuelle d’un ouvrage, correspondant ou pas avec un volume.

Where the eye mixes token and tome

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
token
4 ch
tome

Visual trap between token and tome

A purely visual mix-up. token (\to.kɛn\) 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 51633, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

token is recorded at frequency rank #48,832, classified as anoun, pronounced \to.kɛn\. 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 51633, this pair ranks #153,565 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of token vs tome

Shared letters: eot. Private to "token": kn. Private to "tome": m.

"token" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tokenotken · tkoen · toekn · tokenn · tokken · tokne · ttoken
  • tomeotme · tmoe · toem · tomme · ttome

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "token" for "tome" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\to.kɛn\ versus \tom\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "token" vs "tome" - which ranks higher?
"tome" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,801 in our French list, against #48,832 for "token". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "token" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tome" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #153,565 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "token" and "tome" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "toe vs token". 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 #153,565 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list