Which to use
“tos” is a noun and “tous” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,234
- “tos” frequency rank
- #79
- “tous” frequency rank
- 48313
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tos | tous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique. | Masculin pluriel de tout. |
Where the eye mixes tos and tous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tos and tous
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tos is \tos\ while tous is \tu\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tos is recorded at frequency rank #48,234, classified as anoun, pronounced \tos\. tous is at rank #79, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tu\.
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 48313, this pair ranks #179,884 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tos vs tous
Shared letters: ost. Private to "tos": -. Private to "tous": u.
"tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tous ← otus · tosu · touss · ttous · tuos
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tos" and "tous" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "tos" or "tous" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #179,884 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tos" and "tous" 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 #179,884 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.