Which to use
“tops” and “tos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,411
- “tops” frequency rank
- #48,234
- “tos” frequency rank
- 72645
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tops | tos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de top. | Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique. |
Where the eye mixes tops and tos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tops runs 4 letters (CVCC) against tos's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses tops with tos
A purely visual mix-up. tops (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tops is recorded at frequency rank #24,411, 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 72645, this pair ranks #43,274 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tops vs tos
Shared letters: ost. Private to "tops": p. Private to "tos": -.
"tops" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tops ← otps · topps · topss · tosp · tpos · ttops
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tops" for "tos" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "tops" or "tos" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "tops" and "tos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tops" 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 #43,274 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tops" and "tos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tos". 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 #43,274 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.