todayvsTommyTell them apart

Quick tell: today is a adverb, Tommy is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“today” is an adverb and “Tommy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,761
“today” frequency rank
#6,980
“Tommy” frequency rank
22741
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature today Tommy
Definition heute Spitzname für den (einfachen) Soldaten (mit dem untersten Dienstgrad) der Streitkräfte des Vereinigten Königreichs Großbritannien und Nordirland im Ersten und Zweiten Weltkrieg

Where the eye mixes today and Tommy

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

5 ch
today
5 ch
Tommy

Visual trap between today and Tommy

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: today is [təˈdeɪ] while Tommy is [ˈtɔmi]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

today is recorded at frequency rank #15,761, classified as anadv, pronounced [təˈdeɪ]. Tommy is at rank #6,980, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtɔmi].

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 22741, this pair ranks #1,870,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of today vs Tommy

Shared letters: oty. Private to "today": ad. Private to "Tommy": m.

"today" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "Tommy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • todayotday · tdoay · toady · todayy · todday · todya · ttoday
  • Tommyotmmy · tmomy · tommyy · tomy · tomym · ttommy

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "today" and "Tommy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "today" is an adverb and "Tommy" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "today" or "Tommy"?
"Tommy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,980 in our German list, against #15,761 for "today". 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 "today" and "Tommy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "today" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tommy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,870,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "today" and "Tommy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "today vs Tory". 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 #1,870,347 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