Which to use
“ty” and “type” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,196
- “ty” frequency rank
- #394
- “type” frequency rank
- 21590
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ty | type |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Flûte chinoise. | Modèle, figure originale que l’on considère comme l’empreinte ou reflet d’un concept. |
Where the eye mixes ty and type
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ty with type
A purely visual mix-up. ty (\ti\) and type (\tip\) 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 extra letter(s) - “ty” sits inside “type”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21590, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ty is recorded at frequency rank #21,196, classified as anoun, pronounced \ti\. type is at rank #394, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tip\.
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 21590, this pair ranks #362,386 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ty vs type
Shared letters: ty. Private to "ty": -. Private to "type": ep.
"ty" · 2 letters · shape CV · "type" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- type ← tpye · ttype · tyep · typpe · tyype · ytpe
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ty" for "type" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "ty" or "type" 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 "ty" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "type" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #362,386 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ty" and "type" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs ty". 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 #362,386 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.