This study investigates how the color tolerance for whites is affected by color category and context. Two experiments with different contexts, perceptibility or acceptability, were conducted using 27 color variation samples from six color categories (Neutral-White, Red-White, Yellow-White, Green-White, Blue-White, and Blue-Vivid). The results indicated that the color tolerance for Green-white is dominantly higher relative to the other white-based colors, whereas the color tolerance for Yellow-White and Neutral-White are relatively lower. However, contrary to the hypothesis, no significant differences in the level of color tolerances could be found between the two context of perceptibility and acceptability. The color tolerance thresholds for each color category groups in both experiments were similar. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.