Which to use
“talk” and “told” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #368
- “talk” frequency rank
- #268
- “told” frequency rank
- 636
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | talk | told |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To communicate, usually by means of speech. | simple past and past participle of tell |
Where the eye mixes talk and told
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. talk (/tɔːk/) and told (/təʊld/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
talk is recorded at frequency rank #368, classified as averb, pronounced /tɔːk/. told is at rank #268, tagged as averb, pronounced /təʊld/.
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 636, this pair ranks #529,075 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of talk vs told
Shared letters: lt. Private to "talk": ak. Private to "told": do.
"talk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "told" · 4 letters · shape CVCC