ToddvstolWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,194
“Todd” frequency rank
#41,433
“tol” frequency rank
47627
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Todd tol
Definition An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname from Middle English tod (“fox”). Tall.

Letter map: Todd vs tol

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

4 ch
Todd
3 ch
tol

Role in the sentence - Todd and tol

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Todd is aname and tolanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47627, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Todd is recorded at frequency rank #6,194, classified as aname, pronounced /tɑd/. 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 47627, this pair ranks #200,677 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Todd vs tol

Shared letters: ot. Private to "Todd": d. Private to "tol": l.

"Todd" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "tol" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Toddotdd · tdod · ttodd

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Todd" for "tol" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Todd" is a name and "tol" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Todd" vs "tol" - which ranks higher?
"Todd" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,194 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.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Todd" and "tol".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Todd" 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 #200,677 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Todd" 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 #200,677 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