Which to use
“totes” is an adverb and “towed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,383
- “totes” frequency rank
- #17,737
- “towed” frequency rank
- 49120
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | totes | towed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Totally. | simple past and past participle of tow |
Letter map: totes vs towed
Shared letters muted; letters that set totes and towed apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. totes and towed follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: totes vs towed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: totes is anadverb and towedaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
totes is recorded at frequency rank #31,383, classified as anadv. towed is at rank #17,737, tagged as averb, pronounced /toʊd/.
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 49120, this pair ranks #186,630 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of totes vs towed
Shared letters: eot. Private to "totes": s. Private to "towed": dw.
"totes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "towed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "totes" for "towed" ever safe?
Which is more common, "totes" or "towed"?
Useful next steps
Pair "totes" vs "towed" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "totes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "towed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #186,630 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "totes" and "towed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "totes 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 #186,630 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.