took
/tʊk/
"took" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“took” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #292 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #292
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - simple past of take
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 | took |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /tʊk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #292 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “took” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for took is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, 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 generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for took, with forms such as "otok", "toko", and "tookk". 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, "two", "top", "toy", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is took, spelled T-O-O-K.
Definition
- 1simple past of take
- 2past participle of take
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: otok,toko,tookk,ttook
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of took - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “took”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-O-O-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tʊk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “two” - see the side-by-side comparison. took vs two
- 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.