Which to use
“tombé” is an adjective and “tone” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,342
- “tombé” frequency rank
- #44,780
- “tone” frequency rank
- 47122
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tombé | tone |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Déchu, qui n’a plus beaucoup de succès. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de tonen. |
Where the eye mixes tombé and tone
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tombé and tone
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tombé is \tɔ̃.be\ while tone is \ˈtoːnə\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tombé is recorded at frequency rank #2,342, classified as anadj, pronounced \tɔ̃.be\. tone is at rank #44,780, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈtoːnə\.
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 47122, this pair ranks #189,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tombé vs tone
Shared letters: ot. Private to "tombé": bmé. Private to "tone": en.
"tombé" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tone" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tone ← otne · tnoe · toen · ttone
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tombé" for "tone" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "tombé" or "tone" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tombé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #189,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tombé" and "tone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tone vs tun". 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 #189,399 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.