tohvstruTell them apart

Quick tell: toh is a verb, tru is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#47,966
“toh” frequency rank
#28,061
“tru” frequency rank
76027
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature toh tru
Definition To collapse (fail or break down internally); to fall asleep or collapse from exhaustion. Abbreviation of true.

Letter map: toh vs tru

Shared letters muted; letters that set toh and tru apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. toh (CVC) and tru (CCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
toh
3 ch
tru

Part-of-speech tell for toh / tru

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: toh is averb and truanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76027, 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˦˨]. tru is at rank #28,061, 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 76027, this pair ranks #31,280 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of toh vs tru

Shared letters: t. Private to "toh": ho. Private to "tru": ru.

"toh" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tru" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "toh" and "tru" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "toh" is a verb and "tru" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "toh" or "tru" show up more?
"tru" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,061 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.

What to do next

Pair "toh" vs "tru" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "toh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,280 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "toh" and "tru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Taf vs toh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #31,280 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