tollévstonteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,264
“tollé” frequency rank
#38,573
“tonte” frequency rank
65837
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tollé tonte
Definition Cri d’indignation (souvent figuratif). Action de tondre la laine, la pelouse, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tollé and tonte apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
tollé
5 ch
tonte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tollé (\tɔ.le\) and tonte (\tɔ̃t\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65837, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tollé is recorded at frequency rank #27,264, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.le\. tonte is at rank #38,573, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔ̃t\.

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 65837, this pair ranks #70,555 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tollé vs tonte

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tollé": . Private to "tonte": en.

"tollé" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tonte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tonteotnte · tnote · tonet · tonnte · tontte · totne · ttonte

Frequency comparison

tollé#27,264
tonte#38,573

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tollé" and "tonte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\tɔ.le\ versus \tɔ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tollé" or "tonte"?
"tollé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,264 in our French list, against #38,573 for "tonte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tollé vs tonte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tollé” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list