Which to use
“tae” is a noun and “taken” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,559
- “tae” frequency rank
- #40,041
- “taken” frequency rank
- 69600
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tae | taken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pied. | Accusatif masculin singulier de la déclinaison faible de tak. |
Where the eye mixes tae and taken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tae runs 3 letters (CVV) against taken's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between tae and taken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tae is \taɨ\ while taken is \ˈtakn̩\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69600, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tae is recorded at frequency rank #29,559, classified as anoun, pronounced \taɨ\. taken is at rank #40,041, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈtakn̩\.
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 69600, this pair ranks #54,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tae vs taken
Shared letters: aet. Private to "tae": -. Private to "taken": kn.
"tae" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "taken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- taken ← atken · taekn · takenn · takken · takne · tkaen · ttaken
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tae" and "taken" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tae" vs "taken" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tae" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "taken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #54,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tae" and "taken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tak vs taken". 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 #54,537 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.