thosevsTodeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: those is a unknown, Tode is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“those” is an unknown and “Tode” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,517
“those” frequency rank
#3,282
“Tode” frequency rank
30799
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature those Tode
Definition Plural des Demonstrativpronomens that Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Tod

Where the eye mixes those and Tode

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
those
4 ch
Tode

Look-alike desk: those vs Tode

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: those is [ðəʊz] while Tode is [ˈtoːdə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30799, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

those is recorded at frequency rank #27,517, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ðəʊz]. Tode is at rank #3,282, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtoːdə].

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 30799, this pair ranks #1,740,839 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of those vs Tode

Shared letters: eot. Private to "those": hs. Private to "Tode": d.

"those" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Tode" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thosehtose · thhose · thoes · thosse · thsoe · tohse · tthose
  • Todeotde · tdoe · todde · toed · ttode

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "those" for "Tode" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "those" is an unknown and "Tode" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "those" or "Tode"?
"Tode" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,282 in our German list, against #27,517 for "those". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "those" and "Tode" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "those" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tode" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,740,839 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "those" and "Tode" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "those vs TSE". 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 #1,740,839 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