tohvstookWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,966
“toh” frequency rank
#292
“took” frequency rank
48258
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature toh took
Definition To collapse (fail or break down internally); to fall asleep or collapse from exhaustion. simple past of take

Where the eye mixes toh and took

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

3 ch
toh
4 ch
took

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. toh ([t˭o˦˨]) and took (/tʊk/) 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 48258, 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˦˨]. took is at rank #292, tagged as averb, pronounced /tʊk/.

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 48258, this pair ranks #194,789 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of toh vs took

Shared letters: ot. Private to "toh": h. Private to "took": k.

"toh" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "took" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tookotok · toko · tookk · ttook

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "toh" and "took" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([t˭o˦˨] versus /tʊk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "toh" or "took"?
"took" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #292 in our English list, against #47,966 for "toh". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list