tapesvstotesTell them apart

Quick tell: tapes is a verb, totes is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tapes” is a verb and “totes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,496
“tapes” frequency rank
#26,196
“totes” frequency rank
67692
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tapes totes
Definition 2. Person Singular Präsens Konjunktiv des Verbs tapar Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs tot

Letter map: tapes vs totes

Shared letters muted; letters that set tapes and totes apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
tapes
5 ch
totes

Role in the sentence - tapes and totes

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tapes is averb and totesanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tapes is recorded at frequency rank #41,496, classified as averb, pronounced […]. totes is at rank #26,196, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtoːtəs].

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 67692, this pair ranks #531,826 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tapes vs totes

Shared letters: est. Private to "tapes": ap. Private to "totes": o.

"tapes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "totes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tapesatpes · taeps · tapess · tappes · tapse · tpaes · ttapes
  • totesottes · toets · totess · totse · tottes · ttoes · ttotes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tapes" and "totes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tapes" is a verb and "totes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tapes" or "totes"?
"totes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,196 in our German list, against #41,496 for "tapes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "tapes" vs "totes" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tapes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "totes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #531,826 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tapes" and "totes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs tapes". 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 #531,826 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