Which to use
“tonk” and “tusk” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,387
- “tonk” frequency rank
- #31,017
- “tusk” frequency rank
- 78404
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tonk | tusk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An illegal immigrant of any country. | One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild boar, and which continue to grow throughout the animal's life. |
Letter map: tonk vs tusk
Shared letters muted; letters that set tonk and tusk apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. tonk and tusk follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Corpus notes: tonk and tusk
tonk and tusk are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tonk is recorded at frequency rank #47,387, classified as anoun. tusk is at rank #31,017, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtʌsk/.
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 78404, this pair ranks #24,737 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tonk vs tusk
Shared letters: kt. Private to "tonk": no. Private to "tusk": su.
"tonk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "tusk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tonk" for "tusk" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tonk" vs "tusk" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tonk" and "tusk".
- Full dictionary entry for "tonk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tusk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,737 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tonk" and "tusk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tonk vs Toth". 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 #24,737 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.