Which to use
“tos” and “tris” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,234
- “tos” frequency rank
- #36,192
- “tris” frequency rank
- 84426
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tos | tris |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique. | Pluriel de tri. |
Where the eye mixes tos and tris
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tos runs 3 letters (CVC) against tris's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses tos with tris
A purely visual mix-up. tos (\tos\) and tris (\tʁi\) 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 84426, 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\. tris is at rank #36,192, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁi\.
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 84426, this pair ranks #13,029 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tos vs tris
Shared letters: st. Private to "tos": o. Private to "tris": ir.
"tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tris" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tris ← rtis · triss · trris · trsi · ttris
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tos" and "tris" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "tos" or "tris" show up more?
What to do next
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 "tris" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,029 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tos" and "tris" 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 #13,029 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.