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PlainSpell

tough

/tʌf/adjective, interjection, noun, verb

tough is spelled T-O-U-G-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 59 times per million words in written English, the 1,758th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “tough vs tuff” about 1,600 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, tough means “Of a material, strong and resilient; sturdy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in tough?

Letters5: T-O-U-G-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing59 times per million words; the 1,758th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

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 tough?

Tough appears 59 times per million words in written English, the 1,758th 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 tough?

  • US /tʌf/
  • Australia /tɐf/
  • /tʊf/

Tough 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-tough.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tuff.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with tough

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

tough vs tuff1,600 G

Sounds like: tuff (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 tough?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: ought.

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 tough

  • tougher comparative
  • toughest superlative
  • tuff
  • toughs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • toughing participle, present
  • toughed participle, past

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

What does tough mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Of a material, strong and resilient; sturdy.

    The tent, made of tough canvas, held up to many abuses.

  2. 2

    Of food, difficult to cut or chew.

    To soften a tough cut of meat, the recipe suggested simmering it for hours.

  3. 3

    Of a person or animal, rugged or physically hardy.

    Only a tough species will survive in the desert.

  4. 4

    Of a person, stubborn or persistent; capable of stubbornness or persistence.

    He had a reputation as a tough negotiator.

  5. 5

    informalOf weather, harsh or severe.

  6. 6

    Rowdy or rough.

    A bunch of the tough boys from the wrong side of the tracks threatened him.

  7. 7

    datedslangCool, awesome, great.

  8. 8

    informalOf a question, difficult or demanding.

    This is a tough crowd.

interjection

  1. 1

    slangUsed to indicate lack of sympathy

    If you don't like it, tough!

noun

  1. 1

    A person who obtains things by force; a thug or bully.

    They were doing fine until they encountered a bunch of toughs from the opposition.

verb

  1. 1

    To endure.

  2. 2

    To toughen.

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

Tough in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanzäh (difficult to chew), widerstandsfähig (rugged or physically hardy), knifflig, schwierig (difficult or demanding), Pech, Pech gehabt (lack of sympathy)
Portugueseduro (difficult to chew), resistente (rugged or physically hardy), difícil (difficult or demanding), severo (harsh or severe), durão (rowdy or rough), valentão (one who obtains things by force)
Spanishrecio (rugged or physically hardy), de mano dura, tetelque, tranca (difficult or demanding), ni modo (lack of sympathy)
Frenchdur (difficult or demanding)

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 tough come from?

From Middle English tough, towgh, tou, toȝ, from Old English tōh (“tough, tenacious, holding fast together; pliant; sticky, glutinous, clammy”), from Proto-West Germanic *tą̄h(ī), from Proto-Germanic *tanhuz (“fitting; clinging; tenacious; tough”), from *tinganą (“to press upon, throng”), from Proto-Indo-European *denḱ- (“to bite”).

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

What to look up after tough