tarovstivoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#31,374
“taro” frequency rank
#46,222
“tivo” frequency rank
77596
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature taro tivo
Definition Colocasia esculenta, raised as a food primarily for its corm, which distantly resembles potato. To digitally record (a television show).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set taro and tivo apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
taro
4 ch
tivo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: taro is anoun and tivoaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77596, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

taro is recorded at frequency rank #31,374, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtæɹəʊ/. tivo is at rank #46,222, tagged as averb.

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 77596, this pair ranks #26,826 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of taro vs tivo

Shared letters: ot. Private to "taro": ar. Private to "tivo": iv.

"taro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tivo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taroatro · taor · tarro · trao · ttaro
  • tivoitvo · tiov · tivvo · ttivo · tvio

Frequency comparison

taro#31,374
tivo#46,222

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "taro" and "tivo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "taro" is a noun and "tivo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "taro" or "tivo"?
"taro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,374 in our English list, against #46,222 for "tivo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering taro vs tivo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “taro”; for a verb, it's “tivo”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “taro” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list