tomvsToraTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,600
“tom” frequency rank
#48,233
“Tora” frequency rank
50833
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tom Tora
Definition Abréviation courante de tom-tom (instrument de percussion). Variante orthographique de Thora.

Where the eye mixes tom and Tora

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
tom
4 ch
Tora

Visual trap between tom and Tora

A purely visual mix-up. tom (\tɔm\) and Tora (\tɔ.ʁa\) 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 50833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tom is recorded at frequency rank #2,600, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔm\. Tora is at rank #48,233, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.ʁa\.

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 50833, this pair ranks #159,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tom vs Tora

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tom": m. Private to "Tora": ar.

"tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Tora" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Toraotra · toar · torra · troa · ttora

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tom" for "Tora" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\tɔm\ versus \tɔ.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tom" vs "Tora" - which ranks higher?
"tom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,600 in our French list, against #48,233 for "Tora". 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 "tom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tora" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #159,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tom" and "Tora" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tora vs turf". 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 #159,587 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