teenvstokenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“teen” and “token” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,773
“teen” frequency rank
#48,832
“token” frequency rank
64605
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature teen token
Definition Teenager, ado de 13 ans à 19 ans. Lexème ou lexie.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set teen and token apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
teen
5 ch
token

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. teen (\ˈtin\) and token (\to.kɛn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

teen is recorded at frequency rank #15,773, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈtin\. token is at rank #48,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced \to.kɛn\.

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 64605, this pair ranks #76,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of teen vs token

Shared letters: ent. Private to "teen": -. Private to "token": ko.

"teen" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "token" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • teeneten · teenn · tene · tteen
  • tokenotken · tkoen · toekn · tokenn · tokken · tokne · ttoken

Frequency comparison

teen#15,773
token#48,832

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "teen" and "token" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈtin\ versus \to.kɛn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "teen" or "token"?
"teen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,773 in our French list, against #48,832 for "token". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering teen vs token

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “teen” 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