tekvstohTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,109
“tek” frequency rank
#47,966
“toh” frequency rank
83075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tek toh
Definition Pronunciation spelling of take, representing dialectal English. To collapse (fail or break down internally); to fall asleep or collapse from exhaustion.

Where the eye mixes tek and toh

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. tek and toh follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
tek
3 ch
toh

Look-alike desk: tek vs toh

A purely visual mix-up. tek (/tɛk/) and toh ([t˭o˦˨]) 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 83075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tek is recorded at frequency rank #35,109, classified as averb, pronounced /tɛk/. toh is at rank #47,966, tagged as averb, pronounced [t˭o˦˨].

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 83075, this pair ranks #14,512 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tek vs toh

Shared letters: t. Private to "tek": ek. Private to "toh": ho.

"tek" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "toh" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tek" and "toh" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/tɛk/ versus [t˭o˦˨]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tek" vs "toh" - which ranks higher?
"tek" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,109 in our English list, against #47,966 for "toh". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tek" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "toh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,512 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tek" and "toh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Taf vs toh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #14,512 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