Which to use
“tôles” and “tos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,633
- “tôles” frequency rank
- #48,234
- “tos” frequency rank
- 84867
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tôles | tos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de tôle. | Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique. |
Where the eye mixes tôles and tos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tôles runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against tos's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: tôles vs tos
A purely visual mix-up. tôles (\tol\) and tos (\tos\) 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 84867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tôles is recorded at frequency rank #36,633, classified as anoun, pronounced \tol\. tos is at rank #48,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tos\.
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 84867, this pair ranks #12,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tôles vs tos
Shared letters: st. Private to "tôles": elô. Private to "tos": o.
"tôles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tôles" and "tos" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "tôles" or "tos" 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 "tôles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #12,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tôles" and "tos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tos". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #12,260 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.