to
/tuː/
"to" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“to” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #2) as a particle. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #2
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - A particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive.
Corpus desk
Index EN-to · to · English
to · rank #2 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #2
- LEN-SHORT 2 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH the
Nearest frequency peer: the (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “to”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- the
the
100,000 corpus weight
- to
to
99,999 corpus weight
- and
and
99,998 corpus weight
- of
of
99,997 corpus weight
- A
A
99,996 corpus weight
- in
in
99,995 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “to” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | to |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Particle |
| IPA | /tuː/ |
| Letters | 2 |
| Frequency rank | #2 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “to” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for to is neighbouring look-alikes ("TV", "TX", …), not just typos; it is aparticle pronounced /tuː/. Frequency #2 among 3,151 “T” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for to, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "TV", "TX", "Tu", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English to, from Old English tō, from Proto-Germanic *tō ~ *ta, from Proto-Indo-European *de ~ *do (“to”). Cognate with Scots tae, to (“to”), North Frisian to, tö, tu (“to”), Saterland Frisian tou (“to”), Low German to (“to”), Dutch toe, te (“to… The correct English form is to, spelled T-O.
Definition
- 1A particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive.
- 2As above, with the verb implied.
- 3Used to indicate an obligation on the part of, or a directive given to, the subject.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how to appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I want to leave.
He asked me what to do.
Etymology
From Middle English to, from Old English tō, from Proto-Germanic *tō ~ *ta, from Proto-Indo-European *de ~ *do (“to”). Cognate with Scots tae, to (“to”), North Frisian to, tö, tu (“to”), Saterland Frisian tou (“to”), Low German to (“to”), Dutch toe, te (“to”), German zu (“to”), West Frisian ta (“to”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian ndaj (“towards”), Irish do (“to, for”), Breton da (“to, for”), Welsh i (“to, for”), Russian до (do, “to”). Doublet of too.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.