totemvsTothWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: totem is a noun, Toth is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“totem” is a noun and “Toth” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,952
“totem” frequency rank
#49,105
“Toth” frequency rank
75057
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature totem Toth
Definition Any natural object or living creature that serves as an emblem of a tribe, clan or family; the representation of such an object or creature. A surname from Hungarian.

Letter map: totem vs Toth

Shared letters muted; letters that set totem and Toth apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. totem runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Toth's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
totem
4 ch
Toth

Part-of-speech tell for totem / Toth

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: totem is anoun and Tothaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75057, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

totem is recorded at frequency rank #25,952, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtoʊtəm/. Toth is at rank #49,105, tagged as aname.

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 75057, this pair ranks #34,357 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of totem vs Toth

Shared letters: ot. Private to "totem": em. Private to "Toth": h.

"totem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Toth" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • totem ← ottem · toetm · totemm · totme · tottem · ttoem · ttotem
  • Toth ← otth · tothh · totth · ttoh · ttoth

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "totem" and "Toth" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "totem" is a noun and "Toth" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "totem" vs "Toth" - which ranks higher?
"totem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,952 in our English list, against #49,105 for "Toth". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "totem" vs "Toth" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "totem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Toth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,357 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "totem" and "Toth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "toma 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 #34,357 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list