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PlainSpell

toe

/toʊ/noun, verb

toe is spelled T-O-E: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,347th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “toe vs tow” about 20 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, toe means “Each of the five digits on the end of the human foot” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of toe is toes.

How many letters and syllables are in toe?

Letters3: T-O-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing12 times per million words; the 6,347th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is toe?

Toe appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,347th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce toe?

  • UK /təʊ/
  • US /toʊ/
  • /to/

Toe has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-toe.ogg, En-au-toe.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with toe

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

toe vs tow20 G

Sounds like: tow (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with toe?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as toe from its last stressed vowel (/oʊ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of toe

  • toes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • toeing participle, present
  • toed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does toe mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Each of the five digits on the end of the human foot.

  2. 2

    The equivalent part in an animal.

  3. 3

    The part of a shoe or sock covering the toe.

  4. 4

    Something resembling a toe, especially at the bottom or extreme end of something.

    (golf) the extreme end of the head of a club.

  5. 5

    An advanced form of ballet primarily performed by women, wearing pointe shoes.

  6. 6

    An alignment of the wheels of a road vehicle, either positive (toe in), meaning the wheels are closer together at the front than at the back, or negative (toe out), the other way round.

  7. 7

    The journal, or pivot, at the lower end of a revolving shaft or spindle, which rests in a step.

  8. 8

    A lateral projection at one end, or between the ends, of a piece, such as a rod or bolt, by means of which it is moved.

verb

  1. 1

    To furnish (a stocking, etc.) with a toe.

  2. 2

    To touch, tap or kick with the toes.

  3. 3

    To touch or reach with the toes; to come fully up to.

    to toe the mark

  4. 4

    To fasten (a piece) by driving a fastener at a near-45-degree angle through the side (of the piece) into the piece to which it is to be fastened.

    The framers toed the irregular pieces into the sill.

  5. 5

    To mishit a golf ball with the toe of the club.

noun

as TOE
  1. 1

    Initialism of theory of everything.

  2. 2

    Initialism of table of organization and equipment.

  3. 3

    Initialism of terms of employment.

  4. 4

    UKInitialism of transoesophageal echocardiogram.

noun

as ToE
  1. 1

    Initialism of theory of everything.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Toe in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchorteil, doigt de pied (1. each of the five digits on the end of the…)
GermanZeh, Zehe (1. each of the five digits on the end of the…), Spur (4. alignment of the wheels of a road vehicle)
Portuguesededo do pé, artelho, pododáctilo (1. each of the five digits on the end of the…), dedo da pata (1.1. any equivalent part in an animal)
Spanishdedo, dedo de pie m ortejo, dedo podal (1. each of the five digits on the end of the…), dedo del pie, dedo de pie (1.1. any equivalent part in an animal)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does toe come from?

From Middle English to, from Old English tā, (Mercian) tāhe, from Proto-West Germanic *taihā, from Proto-Germanic *taihwǭ, from *tīhwaną (“to show, announce”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after toe