tilevstolWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: tile is a noun, tol is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tile” is a noun and “tol” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,948
“tile” frequency rank
#41,433
“tol” frequency rank
52381
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tile tol
Definition A regularly-shaped slab of clay or other material, affixed to cover or decorate a surface, as in a roof-tile, glazed tile, stove tile, carpet tile, etc. Tall.

Letter map: tile vs tol

Shared letters muted; letters that set tile and tol apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
tile
3 ch
tol

Grammar separator: tile vs tol

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tile is anoun and tolanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tile is recorded at frequency rank #10,948, classified as anoun, pronounced /taɪl/. tol is at rank #41,433, tagged as anadj.

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 52381, this pair ranks #157,519 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tile vs tol

Shared letters: lt. Private to "tile": ei. Private to "tol": o.

"tile" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tol" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tileitle · tiel · tille · tlie

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tile" for "tol" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tile" is a noun and "tol" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tile" or "tol"?
"tile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,948 in our English list, against #41,433 for "tol". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "tile" and "tol". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tol" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #157,519 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tile" and "tol" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Taf vs tol". 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 #157,519 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