Which to use
“tonus” and “tours” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,755
- “tonus” frequency rank
- #2,105
- “tours” frequency rank
- 37860
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tonus | tours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tension, contraction légère et permanente, tenue des muscles. | Pluriel de tour. |
Where the eye mixes tonus and tours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses tonus with tours
A purely visual mix-up. tonus (\tɔ.nys\) and tours (\tuʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tonus is recorded at frequency rank #35,755, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.nys\. tours is at rank #2,105, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tuʁ\.
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 37860, this pair ranks #259,460 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tonus vs tours
Shared letters: ostu. Private to "tonus": n. Private to "tours": r.
"tonus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "tours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tonus" for "tours" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tonus" or "tours"?
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 "tonus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #259,460 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tonus" and "tours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tonus vs trônes". 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 #259,460 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.