toyvstuWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: toy is a noun, tu is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“toy” is a noun and “tu” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,819
“toy” frequency rank
#2,620
“tu” frequency rank
32439
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature toy tu
Definition Spielzeug 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tun

Letter map: toy vs tu

Shared letters muted; letters that set toy and tu apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
toy
2 ch
tu

Role in the sentence - toy and tu

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: toy is anoun and tuaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32439, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

toy is recorded at frequency rank #29,819, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. tu is at rank #2,620, tagged as averb, pronounced [tuː].

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 32439, this pair ranks #1,707,543 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of toy vs tu

Shared letters: t. Private to "toy": oy. Private to "tu": u.

"toy" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "tu" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "toy" and "tu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "toy" is a noun and "tu" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "toy" vs "tu" - which ranks higher?
"tu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,620 in our German list, against #29,819 for "toy". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "toy" and "tu". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "toy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,707,543 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "toy" and "tu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs toy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,707,543 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