toby
"toby" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“toby” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,808 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #11,808
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A drinking mug, in the shape of a human head with a hat atop; a Toby jug.
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 | toby |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #11,808 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “toby” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for toby is 4 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #11,808 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for toby, with forms such as "otby", "tboy", and "tobby". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Ty", "too", "top", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is toby, spelled T-O-B-Y.
Definition
- 1A drinking mug, in the shape of a human head with a hat atop; a Toby jug.
- 2The valve that mediates the connection between a mains water-supply and a premises's own plumbing.
- 3The road or highway.
- 4A kind of inferior cigar of a long slender shape, tapered at one end.
- 5The Moorish idol, Zanclus cornutus
- 6Any of several species of pufferfish in the genus Canthigaster
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: otby,tboy,tobby,tobyy,toyb,ttoby
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of toby - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “toby”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-O-B-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “Ty” - see the side-by-side comparison. toby vs Ty
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.