Which to use
“tondre” and “tone” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,401
- “tondre” frequency rank
- #44,780
- “tone” frequency rank
- 75181
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tondre | tone |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Couper à ras la laine ou le poil des bêtes. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de tonen. |
Where the eye mixes tondre and tone
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tondre runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against tone's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between tondre and tone
A purely visual mix-up. tondre (\tɔ̃dʁ\) and tone (\ˈtoːnə\) 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 75181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tondre is recorded at frequency rank #30,401, classified as averb, pronounced \tɔ̃dʁ\. 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 75181, this pair ranks #34,856 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tondre vs tone
Shared letters: enot. Private to "tondre": dr. Private to "tone": -.
"tondre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "tone" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tondre" and "tone" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "tondre" vs "tone" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tondre" 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 #34,856 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tondre" 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 #34,856 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.