Which to use
“tong” and “tun” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,152
- “tong” frequency rank
- #49,414
- “tun” frequency rank
- 74566
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tong | tun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sandale à deux brides dont le point d’attache sur le devant de la semelle se trouve entre le gros et le deuxième orteil. | Craie glauconieuse. |
Where the eye mixes tong and tun
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tong runs 4 letters (CVCC) against tun's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: tong vs tun
A purely visual mix-up. tong (\tɔ̃ɡ\) and tun (\tyn\) 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 74566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tong is recorded at frequency rank #25,152, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔ̃ɡ\. tun is at rank #49,414, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tyn\.
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 74566, this pair ranks #36,740 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tong vs tun
Shared letters: nt. Private to "tong": go. Private to "tun": u.
"tong" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "tun" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tong ← otng · tnog · togn · tongg · tonng · ttong
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tong" for "tun" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "tong" or "tun" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tong" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,740 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tong" and "tun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif 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 #36,740 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.