Which to use
“tobt” and “told” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,089
- “tobt” frequency rank
- #44,284
- “told” frequency rank
- 64373
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tobt | told |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs toben | Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs tell |
Where the eye mixes tobt and told
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tobt and told follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: tobt vs told
A purely visual mix-up. tobt ([toːpt]) 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 64373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tobt is recorded at frequency rank #20,089, classified as averb, pronounced [toːpt]. 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 64373, this pair ranks #643,900 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tobt vs told
Shared letters: ot. Private to "tobt": b. Private to "told": dl.
"tobt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "told" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tobt" and "told" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "tobt" or "told" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tobt" 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 #643,900 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tobt" 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 #643,900 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.