touxvstunWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“toux” and “tun” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,276
“toux” frequency rank
#49,414
“tun” frequency rank
64690
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature toux tun
Definition Expiration spasmodique et bruyante de l’air, accompagnée d’un mouvement convulsif du larynx et de la trachée-artère. Craie glauconieuse.

Where the eye mixes toux and tun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
toux
3 ch
tun

Look-alike desk: toux vs tun

A purely visual mix-up. toux (\tu\) and tun (\tyn\) 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 64690, 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\. tun is at rank #49,414, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tyn\.

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 64690, this pair ranks #75,817 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of toux vs tun

Shared letters: tu. Private to "toux": ox. Private to "tun": n.

"toux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "tun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • touxotux · touxx · toxu · ttoux · tuox

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "toux" and "tun" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\tu\ versus \tyn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "toux" or "tun" show up more?
"toux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,276 in our French list, against #49,414 for "tun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "toux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,817 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "toux" and "tun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif 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 #75,817 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list