Which to use
“tonnes” and “tonte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,970
- “tonnes” frequency rank
- #38,573
- “tonte” frequency rank
- 41543
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tonnes | tonte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de tonne. | Action de tondre la laine, la pelouse, etc. |
Where the eye mixes tonnes and tonte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tonnes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against tonte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between tonnes and tonte
A purely visual mix-up. tonnes (\tɔn\) and tonte (\tɔ̃t\) 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 41543, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tonnes is recorded at frequency rank #2,970, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔn\. tonte is at rank #38,573, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔ̃t\.
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 41543, this pair ranks #232,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tonnes vs tonte
Shared letters: enot. Private to "tonnes": s. Private to "tonte": -.
"tonnes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "tonte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tonnes" for "tonte" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tonnes" vs "tonte" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tonnes" and "tonte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tonnes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tonte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tonnes" and "tonte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tinto vs tonte". 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 #232,331 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.