Which to use
“tooth” is a noun and “toothed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,305
- “tooth” frequency rank
- #27,679
- “toothed” frequency rank
- 33984
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tooth | toothed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A hard, calcareous structure present in the mouth of many vertebrate animals, generally used for biting and chewing food. | Having teeth. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tooth and toothed apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tooth is /tuːθ/ while toothed is /tuːθt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “tooth” sits inside “toothed”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tooth is recorded at frequency rank #6,305, classified as anoun, pronounced /tuːθ/. toothed is at rank #27,679, tagged as anadj, pronounced /tuːθt/.
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 33984, this pair ranks #324,663 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tooth vs toothed
Shared letters: hot. Private to "tooth": -. Private to "toothed": de.
"tooth" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "toothed" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tooth" and "toothed" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "tooth" or "toothed"?
Remembering tooth vs toothed
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “tooth”; for an adjective, it's “toothed”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tooth” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable