Which to use
“take” is a verb and “taken” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #128
- “take” frequency rank
- #474
- “taken” frequency rank
- 602
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | take | taken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force. | Infatuated; fond of or attracted to. |
Where the eye mixes take and taken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: take is /teɪk/ while taken is /ˈteɪ.kn̩/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “take” sits inside “taken”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
take is recorded at frequency rank #128, classified as averb, pronounced /teɪk/. taken is at rank #474, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈteɪ.kn̩/.
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 602, this pair ranks #529,129 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of take vs taken
Shared letters: aekt. Private to "take": -. Private to "taken": n.
"take" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "taken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC