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took

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "took", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "took" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "took" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

took is aEnglishverb. It means: simple past of take Pronounced /tʊk/. It ranks #292 in English word frequency. Often confused with two and top.

Key facts for took
PropertyValue
Headwordtook
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/tʊk/
Letters4
Frequency rank#292
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of took in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for took is 4 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tʊk/. Corpus data places it at rank #292 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 4 documented wrong-spelling variants for took, with forms such as "otok", "toko", and "tookk". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "two", "top", "toy", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is took, spelled T-O-O-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    simple past of take
  2. 2
    past participle of take

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: otok,toko,tookk,ttook

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for took

Misspelling Variants of "took"

otok4toko4tookk5ttook5
Misspelling Variants of "took"

Frequency rank: #292 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "took"?
"took" is spelled T-O-O-K. The IPA pronunciation is /tʊk/.
What does "took" mean?
As a verb, "took" means: simple past of take
What words are commonly confused with "took"?
"took" is commonly confused with "two", "top", "toy". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "took"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "took" is /tʊk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "took" come from?
"took" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter T in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.