Which to use
“top” and “tos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,241
- “top” frequency rank
- #48,234
- “tos” frequency rank
- 49475
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | top | tos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Le meilleur. | Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique. |
Where the eye mixes top and tos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between top and tos
A purely visual mix-up. top (\tɔp\) and tos (\tos\) 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 a single letter - p in “top” becomes s in “tos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
top is recorded at frequency rank #1,241, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔp\. tos is at rank #48,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tos\.
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 49475, this pair ranks #170,347 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of top vs tos
Shared letters: ot. Private to "top": p. Private to "tos": s.
"top" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "top" and "tos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "top" or "tos" 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 "top" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #170,347 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "top" and "tos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tos". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #170,347 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.