Which to use
“talk” and “told” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,537
- “talk” frequency rank
- #44,284
- “told” frequency rank
- 51821
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | talk | told |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs talken | Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs tell |
Where the eye mixes talk and told
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: talk vs told
A purely visual mix-up. talk ([tɔːk]) and told ([təʊld]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51821, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
talk is recorded at frequency rank #7,537, classified as averb, pronounced [tɔːk]. told is at rank #44,284, tagged as averb, pronounced [təʊld].
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 51821, this pair ranks #1,120,754 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of talk vs told
Shared letters: lt. Private to "talk": ak. Private to "told": do.
"talk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "told" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "talk" and "told" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "talk" or "told" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "talk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "told" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,120,754 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "talk" and "told" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "told vs Tons". 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 #1,120,754 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.