Which to use
“told” is a verb and “tom” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,284
- “told” frequency rank
- #2,521
- “tom” frequency rank
- 46805
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | told | tom |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs tell | ohne Inhalt; leer |
Where the eye mixes told and tom
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between told and tom
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: told is [təʊld] while tom is [tum]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46805, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
told is recorded at frequency rank #44,284, classified as averb, pronounced [təʊld]. tom is at rank #2,521, tagged as anadj, pronounced [tum].
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 46805, this pair ranks #1,306,374 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of told vs tom
Shared letters: ot. Private to "told": dl. Private to "tom": m.
"told" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- told ← otld · tlod · todl · toldd · tolld · ttold
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "told" for "tom" ever safe?
Frequency check: "told" vs "tom" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "told" and "tom" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "told" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,306,374 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "told" and "tom" 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 #1,306,374 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.