talksvstaskTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,467
“talks” frequency rank
#2,271
“task” frequency rank
4738
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature talks task
Definition plural of talk A piece of work done as part of one’s duties.

Where the eye mixes talks and task

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
talks
4 ch
task

Visual trap between talks and task

A purely visual mix-up. talks (/ˈtɔːks/) and task (/tɑːsk/) 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 4738, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

talks is recorded at frequency rank #2,467, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɔːks/. task is at rank #2,271, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɑːsk/.

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 4738, this pair ranks #517,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of talks vs task

Shared letters: akst. Private to "talks": l. Private to "task": -.

"talks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "task" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • talksatlks · takls · talkks · talkss · tallks · talsk · tlaks · ttalks
  • taskatsk · taks · taskk · tassk · tsak · ttask

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "talks" for "task" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtɔːks/ versus /tɑːsk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "talks" vs "task" - which ranks higher?
"task" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,271 in our English list, against #2,467 for "talks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "talks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "task" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #517,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "talks" and "task" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "talkies vs talks". 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 #517,850 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list