Which to use
“until” is a preposition and “untold” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #223
- “until” frequency rank
- #19,239
- “untold” frequency rank
- 19462
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | until | untold |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Up to the time of (something happening); pending. | Not told; not related; not revealed; secret. |
Where the eye mixes until and untold
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between until and untold
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: until is /ʌnˈtɪl/ while untold is /ʌnˈtəʊld/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
until is recorded at frequency rank #223, classified as aprep, pronounced /ʌnˈtɪl/. 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 19462, this pair ranks #438,019 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of until vs untold
Shared letters: lntu. Private to "until": i. Private to "untold": do.
"until" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "untold" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "until" and "untold" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "until" or "untold"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "until" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "untold" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,019 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "until" and "untold" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "untied vs untold". 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 #438,019 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.