tokenvstoxinWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,410
“token” frequency rank
#19,722
“toxin” frequency rank
29132
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature token toxin
Definition Something serving as an expression of something else. A toxic substance, specifically a poison produced by the biological processes of organisms.

Where the eye mixes token and toxin

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

5 ch
token
5 ch
toxin

Look-alike desk: token vs toxin

A purely visual mix-up. token (/ˈtəʊkən/) and toxin (/ˈtɒksɪn/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

token is recorded at frequency rank #9,410, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtəʊkən/. toxin is at rank #19,722, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɒksɪn/.

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 29132, this pair ranks #365,569 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of token vs toxin

Shared letters: not. Private to "token": ek. Private to "toxin": ix.

"token" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "toxin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tokenotken · tkoen · toekn · tokenn · tokken · tokne · ttoken
  • toxinotxin · toixn · toxinn · toxni · toxxin · ttoxin · txoin

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "token" for "toxin" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtəʊkən/ versus /ˈtɒksɪn/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "token" or "toxin"?
"token" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,410 in our English list, against #19,722 for "toxin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "token" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "toxin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #365,569 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "token" and "toxin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tonkin vs toxin". 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 #365,569 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