toriesvstoryWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“tories” and “tory” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,834
“tories” frequency rank
#29,176
“tory” frequency rank
78010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tories tory
Definition Pluriel de tory. Nom qu’on a donné en Angleterre aux partisans de Charles II, et qui depuis est resté le nom générique du parti conservateur.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tories and tory apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
tories
4 ch
tory

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. tories and tory are pronounced identically (\tɔ.ʁi\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tories is recorded at frequency rank #48,834, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.ʁi\. tory is at rank #29,176, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.ʁi\.

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 78010, this pair ranks #26,859 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tories vs tory

Shared letters: ort. Private to "tories": eis. Private to "tory": y.

"tories" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "tory" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • toriestoires · toreis · toriess · torise · torries · troies · ttories
  • toryotry · torry · toryy · toyr · ttory

Frequency comparison

tories#48,834
tory#29,176

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tories" and "tory" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\tɔ.ʁi\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "tories" or "tory"?
"tory" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,176 in our French list, against #48,834 for "tories". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tories vs tory

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tories” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list