toesvstorsoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,625
“toes” frequency rank
#17,046
“torso” frequency rank
24671
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature toes torso
Definition plural of toe The main part of the (human) body that extends from the neck to the groin, excluding the head and limbs.

Where the eye mixes toes and torso

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

4 ch
toes
5 ch
torso

Look-alike desk: toes vs torso

A purely visual mix-up. toes (/təʊz/) and torso (/ˈtɔː.səʊ/) 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 24671, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

toes is recorded at frequency rank #7,625, classified as anoun, pronounced /təʊz/. torso is at rank #17,046, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɔː.səʊ/.

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 24671, this pair ranks #400,260 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of toes vs torso

Shared letters: ost. Private to "toes": e. Private to "torso": r.

"toes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "torso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • toesotes · teos · toess · tose · ttoes
  • torsootrso · toros · torrso · torsso · tosro · troso · ttorso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "toes" for "torso" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/təʊz/ versus /ˈtɔː.səʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "toes" or "torso" show up more?
"toes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,625 in our English list, against #17,046 for "torso". 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 "toes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "torso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #400,260 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "toes" and "torso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "torso vs torus". 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 #400,260 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