Which to use
“tong” is a noun and “took” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,681
- “tong” frequency rank
- #292
- “took” frequency rank
- 21973
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tong | took |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An instrument or tool used for manipulating things in a fire without touching them with the hands. | simple past of take |
Where the eye mixes tong and took
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses tong with took
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tong is /tɒŋ/ while took is /tʊk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21973, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tong is recorded at frequency rank #21,681, classified as anoun, pronounced /tɒŋ/. 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 21973, this pair ranks #419,997 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tong vs took
Shared letters: ot. Private to "tong": gn. Private to "took": k.
"tong" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "took" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tong" and "took" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "tong" or "took" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "tong" and "took" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tong" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "took" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #419,997 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tong" and "took" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tong vs twang". 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 #419,997 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.