Which to use
“to” is a particle and “tom” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2
- “to” frequency rank
- #1,582
- “tom” frequency rank
- 1584
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | to | tom |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive. | The male of the domesticated cat, especially if not neutered. |
Where the eye mixes to and tom
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: to is /tuː/ while tom is /tɒm/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “to” sits inside “tom”, and the parts of speech differ too (particle vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
to is recorded at frequency rank #2, classified as aparticle, pronounced /tuː/. tom is at rank #1,582, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɒm/.
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 1584, this pair ranks #527,119 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of to vs tom
Shared letters: ot. Private to "to": -. Private to "tom": m.
"to" · 2 letters · shape CV · "tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC