toedvstorWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: toed is a adjective, tor is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#35,990
“toed” frequency rank
#13,625
“tor” frequency rank
49615
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature toed tor
Definition Having (a specified number or type of) toes. A craggy outcrop of rock on the summit of a hill, created by the erosion and weathering of rock.

Where the eye mixes toed and tor

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
toed
3 ch
tor

Look-alike desk: toed vs tor

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: toed is /təʊd/ while tor is /tɔː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

toed is recorded at frequency rank #35,990, classified as anadj, pronounced /təʊd/. tor is at rank #13,625, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɔː/.

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 49615, this pair ranks #181,916 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of toed vs tor

Shared letters: ot. Private to "toed": de. Private to "tor": r.

"toed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "tor" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • toedoted · teod · tode · toedd · ttoed

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "toed" and "tor" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "toed" is an adjective and "tor" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "toed" vs "tor" - which ranks higher?
"tor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,625 in our English list, against #35,990 for "toed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "toed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #181,916 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "toed" and "tor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "toed 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 #181,916 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