unsoldvsuntoldWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“unsold” and “untold” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,899
“unsold” frequency rank
#19,239
“untold” frequency rank
53138
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature unsold untold
Definition Not sold Not told; not related; not revealed; secret.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set unsold and untold apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
unsold
6 ch
untold

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

unsold and untold 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 differ by a single letter - s in “unsold” becomes t in “untold”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53138, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

unsold is recorded at frequency rank #33,899, classified as anadj. untold is at rank #19,239, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ʌnˈtəʊld/.

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 53138, this pair ranks #151,433 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of unsold vs untold

Shared letters: dlnou. Private to "unsold": s. Private to "untold": t.

"unsold" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "untold" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • unsoldnusold · unnsold · unosld · unslod · unsodl · unsoldd · unsolld · unssold
  • untoldnutold · unntold · unotld · untlod · untodl · untoldd · untolld · unttold

Frequency comparison

unsold#33,899
untold#19,239

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "unsold" and "untold" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by a single letter - s in “unsold” becomes t in “untold”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "unsold" or "untold"?
"untold" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,239 in our English list, against #33,899 for "unsold". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering unsold vs untold

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “unsold” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list