tohvstomeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: toh is a verb, tome is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“toh” is a verb and “tome” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,966
“toh” frequency rank
#22,247
“tome” frequency rank
70213
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature toh tome
Definition To collapse (fail or break down internally); to fall asleep or collapse from exhaustion. One in a series of volumes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set toh and tome apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
toh
4 ch
tome

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: toh is [t˭o˦˨] while tome is /təʊm/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70213, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

toh is recorded at frequency rank #47,966, classified as averb, pronounced [t˭o˦˨]. tome is at rank #22,247, tagged as anoun, pronounced /təʊm/.

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 70213, this pair ranks #51,432 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of toh vs tome

Shared letters: ot. Private to "toh": h. Private to "tome": em.

"toh" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomeotme · tmoe · toem · tomme · ttome

Frequency comparison

toh#47,966
tome#22,247

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "toh" and "tome" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "toh" is a verb and "tome" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "toh" or "tome"?
"tome" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,247 in our English list, against #47,966 for "toh". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering toh vs tome

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “toh”; for a noun, it's “tome”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “toh” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list