tarovstodoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: taro is a noun, todo is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“taro” is a noun and “todo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,091
“taro” frequency rank
#48,831
“todo” frequency rank
85922
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature taro todo
Definition Tubercule comestible de diverses plantes de la famille des Araceae (Aracées), sauf le taro chinois qui est de la famille des Alismatacées. Entier, total, tout.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set taro and todo apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
taro
4 ch
todo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: taro is \ta.ʁo\ while todo is [ˈto.ðo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

taro is recorded at frequency rank #37,091, classified as anoun, pronounced \ta.ʁo\. todo is at rank #48,831, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈto.ðo].

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 85922, this pair ranks #10,535 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of taro vs todo

Shared letters: ot. Private to "taro": ar. Private to "todo": d.

"taro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "todo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taroatro · taor · tarro · trao · ttaro
  • todootdo · tdoo · toddo · tood · ttodo

Frequency comparison

taro#37,091
todo#48,831

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "taro" and "todo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "taro" is a noun and "todo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "taro" or "todo"?
"taro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,091 in our French list, against #48,831 for "todo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering taro vs todo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “taro”; for an adjective, it's “todo”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “taro” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list