Which to use
“tus” is an adjective and “tutu” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,544
- “tus” frequency rank
- #36,195
- “tutu” frequency rank
- 76739
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tus | tutu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de tu. | Cul, derrière, fesses. |
Where the eye mixes tus and tutu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tus runs 3 letters (CVC) against tutu's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: tus vs tutu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tus is \ty\ while tutu is \ty.ty\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tus is recorded at frequency rank #40,544, classified as anadj, pronounced \ty\. tutu is at rank #36,195, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ty.ty\.
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 76739, this pair ranks #30,292 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tus vs tutu
Shared letters: tu. Private to "tus": s. Private to "tutu": -.
"tus" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tutu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tutu ← ttutu · ttuu · tuttu · tuut · uttu
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tus" for "tutu" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "tus" or "tutu" 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 "tus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tutu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,292 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tus" and "tutu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tus". 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 #30,292 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.