# taught vs tough

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### taught
*verb · IPA /tɔt/ · frequency rank #2,136*
simple past and past participle of teach

### tough
*adjective · IPA /tʌf/ · frequency rank #1,777*
Strong and resilient; sturdy.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/taught-vs-tough