takevsTaoTell them apart

Quick tell: take is a adjective, Tao is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“take” is an adjective and “Tao” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,953
“take” frequency rank
#30,319
“Tao” frequency rank
39272
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature take Tao
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs tak Grundprinzip der chinesischen Philosophie und Religion des Taoismus, oft mit „Weg“ übersetzt; höchste Realität; schöpferischer Urgrund

Letter map: take vs Tao

Shared letters muted; letters that set take and Tao apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
take
3 ch
Tao

Grammar separator: take vs Tao

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: take is anadjective and Taoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39272, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

take is recorded at frequency rank #8,953, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtakə]. Tao is at rank #30,319, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 39272, this pair ranks #1,541,327 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of take vs Tao

Shared letters: at. Private to "take": ek. Private to "Tao": o.

"take" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Tao" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taketaek · takke · tkae · ttake

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "take" and "Tao" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "take" is an adjective and "Tao" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "take" vs "Tao" - which ranks higher?
"take" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,953 in our German list, against #30,319 for "Tao". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "take" and "Tao".

  • Full dictionary entry for "take" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tao" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,541,327 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "take" and "Tao" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs Tao". 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 #1,541,327 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list