Which to use
“told” and “took” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #268
- “told” frequency rank
- #292
- “took” frequency rank
- 560
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | told | took |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of tell | simple past of take |
Where the eye mixes told and took
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. told (/təʊld/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
told is recorded at frequency rank #268, classified as averb, pronounced /təʊld/. 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 560, this pair ranks #529,195 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of told vs took
Shared letters: ot. Private to "told": dl. Private to "took": k.
"told" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "took" · 4 letters · shape CVVC