# toll

> English word · Noun · IPA /təʊl/ · frequency rank #6,304

## Definitions
1. A fee paid for some liberty or privilege, particularly for the privilege of passing over a bridge or on a highway, or for that of vending goods in a fair, market, etc.
2. Loss or damage incurred through a disaster.
3. A fee paid by the owner of materials or other goods for processing such goods, as under a tolling agreement.
4. A fee for using any kind of material processing service.
5. A tollbooth.
6. A liberty to buy and sell within the bounds of a manor.
7. A portion of grain taken by a miller as a compensation for grinding.

## Etymology
From Middle English toll, tol, tolle, from Old English toll m or n and toln f (“toll, duty, custom”), from Proto-West Germanic *toll, *tolnu, from Proto-Germanic *tullaz, *tullō (“that which is counted or told, reckoning”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“calculation, fraud”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tol (“toll”), Dutch tol (“toll”), German Zoll (“toll, duty, customs”), Danish told (“toll, duty, tariff”), Swedish tull (“toll, customs”), Icelandic tollur (“toll, customs”). More at tell, tale.
Alternate etymology derives Old English toll from Medieval Latin tolōneum, tolōnium, alteration (due to the Germanic forms above) of Latin telōneum, from Ancient Greek τελώνιον (telṓnion, “toll-house”), from τέλος (télos, “tax”).

## Easily confused with
- **too** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-too)
- **top** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-top)
- **tom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tom)
- **toy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-toy)
- **ton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-ton)
- **tow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tow)
- **tor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tor)
- **TOS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tos)
- **tot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tot)
- **TOV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tov)
- **took** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-took)
- **town** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-town)
- **tour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tour)
- **Tony** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tony)
- **tool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tool)
- **tone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tone)
- **tons** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tons)
- **toys** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-toys)
- **torn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-torn)
- **tops** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toll-vs-tops)

## Common misspellings (3)
`otll`, `tlol`, `ttoll`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/toll