timovsTomsTell them apart

Which to use

“timo” and “Toms” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,677
“timo” frequency rank
#41,507
“Toms” frequency rank
49184
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature timo Toms
Definition Angst, Furcht, Bange Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Tom

Letter map: timo vs Toms

Shared letters muted; letters that set timo and Toms apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. timo (CVCV) and Toms (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
timo
4 ch
Toms

Corpus notes: timo and Toms

timo and Toms are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

timo is recorded at frequency rank #7,677, classified as anoun. Toms is at rank #41,507, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tɔms].

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 49184, this pair ranks #1,220,990 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of timo vs Toms

Shared letters: mot. Private to "timo": i. Private to "Toms": s.

"timo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Toms" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • timo ← itmo · timmo · tiom · tmio · ttimo
  • Toms ← otms · tmos · tomms · tomss · tosm · ttoms

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "timo" for "Toms" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "timo" or "Toms" show up more?
"timo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,677 in our German list, against #41,507 for "Toms". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "timo" vs "Toms" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "timo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Toms" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,220,990 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "timo" and "Toms" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Toms 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 #1,220,990 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