tithevstoteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,884
“tithe” frequency rank
#20,518
“tote” frequency rank
54402
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tithe tote
Definition A tenth. A tote bag.

Where the eye mixes tithe and tote

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
tithe
4 ch
tote

Visual trap between tithe and tote

A purely visual mix-up. tithe (/taɪð/) and tote (/təʊt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54402, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tithe is recorded at frequency rank #33,884, classified as anoun, pronounced /taɪð/. tote is at rank #20,518, tagged as anoun, pronounced /təʊt/.

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 54402, this pair ranks #141,355 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tithe vs tote

Shared letters: et. Private to "tithe": hi. Private to "tote": o.

"tithe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • titheitthe · tihte · titeh · tithhe · titthe · ttihe · ttithe
  • toteotte · toet · totte · ttoe · ttote

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tithe" and "tote" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/taɪð/ versus /təʊt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "tithe" or "tote" show up more?
"tote" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,518 in our English list, against #33,884 for "tithe". 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 "tithe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #141,355 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tithe" and "tote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tithe vs Toth". 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 #141,355 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