Which to use
“torts” and “tos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,702
- “torts” frequency rank
- #48,234
- “tos” frequency rank
- 67936
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | torts | tos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de tort. | Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique. |
Where the eye mixes torts and tos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. torts runs 5 letters (CVCCC) 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 torts with tos
A purely visual mix-up. torts (\tɔʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
torts is recorded at frequency rank #19,702, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔʁ\. 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 67936, this pair ranks #61,325 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of torts vs tos
Shared letters: ost. Private to "torts": r. Private to "tos": -.
"torts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- torts ← otrts · torrts · torst · tortss · tortts · totrs · trots · ttorts
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "torts" for "tos" ever safe?
Which is more common, "torts" or "tos"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "torts" and "tos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "torts" 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 #61,325 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "torts" 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 #61,325 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.