Which to use
“to” is a num and “tone” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,128
- “to” frequency rank
- #44,488
- “tone” frequency rank
- 45616
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | to | tone |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dos. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de tonar. |
Where the eye mixes to and tone
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses to with tone
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: to is [toːˀ] while tone is [ˈt̪one]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “to” sits inside “tone”, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
to is recorded at frequency rank #1,128, classified as anum, pronounced [toːˀ]. tone is at rank #44,488, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪one].
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 45616, this pair ranks #130,417 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of to vs tone
Shared letters: ot. Private to "to": -. Private to "tone": en.
"to" · 2 letters · shape CV · "tone" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tone ← otne · tnoe · toen · tonne · ttone
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "to" and "tone" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "to" or "tone" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "to" and "tone" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "to" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,417 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "to" and "tone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tone vs toys". 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 #130,417 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.