takesvstalkedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“takes” and “talked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#683
“takes” frequency rank
#2,410
“talked” frequency rank
3093
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature takes talked
Definition third-person singular simple present indicative of take simple past and past participle of talk

Where the eye mixes takes and talked

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
takes
6 ch
talked

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. takes (/teɪks/) and talked (/tɔːkt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3093, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

takes is recorded at frequency rank #683, classified as averb, pronounced /teɪks/. talked is at rank #2,410, tagged as averb, pronounced /tɔːkt/.

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 3093, this pair ranks #523,135 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of takes vs talked

Shared letters: aekt. Private to "takes": s. Private to "talked": dl.

"takes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "talked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • takesatkes · taeks · takess · takkes · takse · tkaes · ttakes
  • talkedatlked · takled · talekd · talkde · talkedd · talkked · tallked · tlaked

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "takes" and "talked" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/teɪks/ versus /tɔːkt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "takes" or "talked"?
"takes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #683 in our English list, against #2,410 for "talked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list