Which to use
“too” is an adverb and “tooth” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #121
- “too” frequency rank
- #6,305
- “tooth” frequency rank
- 6426
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | too | tooth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Likewise. | A hard, calcareous structure present in the mouth of many vertebrate animals, generally used for biting and chewing food. |
Where the eye mixes too and tooth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: too is /tuː/ while tooth is /tuːθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “too” sits inside “tooth”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
too is recorded at frequency rank #121, classified as anadv, pronounced /tuː/. tooth is at rank #6,305, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tuːθ/.
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 6426, this pair ranks #511,473 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of too vs tooth
Shared letters: ot. Private to "too": -. Private to "tooth": h.
"too" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "tooth" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tooth ← ototh · tooht · toothh · tootth · totoh · ttooth
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "too" and "tooth" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "too" or "tooth"?
What to do next
You've compared "too" and "tooth". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "too" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tooth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #511,473 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "too" and "tooth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tooth 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.