Which to use
“todo” is an adjective and “told” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,831
- “todo” frequency rank
- #45,349
- “told” frequency rank
- 94180
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | todo | told |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Entier, total, tout. | Prétérit de tell. |
Where the eye mixes todo and told
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. todo (CVCV) and told (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between todo and told
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: todo is [ˈto.ðo] while told is \təʊld\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 94180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
todo is recorded at frequency rank #48,831, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈto.ðo]. told is at rank #45,349, tagged as averb, pronounced \təʊld\.
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 94180, this pair ranks #1,800 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of todo vs told
Shared letters: dot. Private to "todo": -. Private to "told": l.
"todo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "told" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "todo" and "told" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "todo" vs "told" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "todo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "told" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,800 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "todo" and "told" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tad vs todo". 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 #1,800 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.