Which to use
“toux” and “town” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,276
- “toux” frequency rank
- #16,756
- “town” frequency rank
- 32032
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | toux | town |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Expiration spasmodique et bruyante de l’air, accompagnée d’un mouvement convulsif du larynx et de la trachée-artère. | Commune, localité. |
Where the eye mixes toux and town
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses toux with town
A purely visual mix-up. toux (\tu\) and town (\taʊn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
toux is recorded at frequency rank #15,276, classified as anoun, pronounced \tu\. town is at rank #16,756, tagged as anoun, pronounced \taʊn\.
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 32032, this pair ranks #299,988 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of toux vs town
Shared letters: ot. Private to "toux": ux. Private to "town": nw.
"toux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "town" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "toux" for "town" ever safe?
Which is more common, "toux" or "town"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "toux" and "town" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "toux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "town" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #299,988 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "toux" and "town" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "town vs tun". 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 #299,988 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.