tipvstohWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,767
“tip” frequency rank
#47,966
“toh” frequency rank
50733
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tip toh
Definition The extreme end of something, especially when pointed; e.g. the sharp end of a pencil. To collapse (fail or break down internally); to fall asleep or collapse from exhaustion.

Where the eye mixes tip and toh

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
tip
3 ch
toh

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tip is /tɪp/ while toh is [t˭o˦˨]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50733, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tip is recorded at frequency rank #2,767, classified as anoun, pronounced /tɪp/. 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 50733, this pair ranks #171,656 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tip vs toh

Shared letters: t. Private to "tip": ip. Private to "toh": ho.

"tip" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "toh" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tip" and "toh" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tip" is a noun and "toh" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tip" or "toh"?
"tip" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,767 in our English list, against #47,966 for "toh". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list