Which to use
“tomes” and “tories” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,493
- “tomes” frequency rank
- #48,834
- “tories” frequency rank
- 60327
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tomes | tories |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de tome. | Pluriel de tory. |
Where the eye mixes tomes and tories
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tomes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against tories's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses tomes with tories
A purely visual mix-up. tomes (\tɔm\) and tories (\tɔ.ʁi\) 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 60327, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tomes is recorded at frequency rank #11,493, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔm\. tories is at rank #48,834, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.ʁi\.
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 60327, this pair ranks #98,187 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tomes vs tories
Shared letters: eost. Private to "tomes": m. Private to "tories": ir.
"tomes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "tories" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tomes" and "tories" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tomes" vs "tories" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tomes" and "tories" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tomes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tories" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #98,187 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tomes" and "tories" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tories vs trips". 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 #98,187 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.