Which to use
“talk” is a verb and “til” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,714
- “talk” frequency rank
- #28,972
- “til” frequency rank
- 45686
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | talk | til |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hablar. | Hasta. |
Where the eye mixes talk and til
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: talk vs til
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: talk is /tɔːk/ while til is /tɪl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
talk is recorded at frequency rank #16,714, classified as averb, pronounced /tɔːk/. til is at rank #28,972, tagged as aprep, pronounced /tɪl/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 45686, this pair ranks #130,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of talk vs til
Shared letters: lt. Private to "talk": ak. Private to "til": i.
"talk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "til" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- talk ← atlk · takl · talkk · tallk · tlak · ttalk
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "talk" for "til" ever safe?
Which is more common, "talk" or "til"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "talk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "til" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "talk" and "til" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tale vs til". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #130,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.