Which to use
“tos” and “trous” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,234
- “tos” frequency rank
- #4,813
- “trous” frequency rank
- 53047
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tos | trous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Élève de première année à l’École polytechnique. | Pluriel de trou. |
Where the eye mixes tos and trous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tos runs 3 letters (CVC) against trous's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: tos vs trous
A purely visual mix-up. tos (\tos\) and trous (\tʁu\) 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 53047, 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\. trous is at rank #4,813, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁu\.
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 53047, this pair ranks #143,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tos vs trous
Shared letters: ost. Private to "tos": -. Private to "trous": ru.
"tos" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "trous" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- trous ← rtous · trosu · trouss · trrous · truos · ttrous
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tos" and "trous" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "tos" or "trous"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "trous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #143,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tos" and "trous" 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 #143,465 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.