Tok vs tom, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Tok” is a name and “tom” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,061
“Tok” frequency rank: #1,582
“tom” frequency rank: 34643
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Tok	tom
Definition	A surname from Khmer.	The male of the domesticated cat, especially if not neutered.

Letter map: Tok vs tom

Shared letters muted; letters that set Tok and tom apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch

Tok

3 ch

tom

Grammar separator: Tok vs tom

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Tok is aname and tomanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - k in “Tok” becomes m in “tom”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34643, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tok is recorded at frequency rank #33,061, classified as aname. tom is at rank #1,582, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɒm/.

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 34643, this pair ranks #319,000 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Tok vs tom

Shared letters: ot. Private to "Tok": k. Private to "tom": m.

"Tok" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Tok" and "tom" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tok" is a name and "tom" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Tok" or "tom"?

"tom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,582 in our English list, against #33,061 for "Tok". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Tok" and "tom". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "Tok" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "tom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #319,000 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"Tok" and "tom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Taf vs Tok". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #319,000 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.