TokiovstoxicWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Tokio is a name, toxic is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Tokio” is a name and “toxic” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,918
“Tokio” frequency rank
#46,499
“toxic” frequency rank
92417
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tokio toxic
Definition Ancienne orthographe de Tokyo (ville du Japon). Toxique (dangereux pour la santé).

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
Tokio
5 ch
toxic

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Tokio is \to.kjo\ while toxic is \ˈtɒk.sɪk\. 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 (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92417, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tokio is recorded at frequency rank #45,918, classified as aname, pronounced \to.kjo\. toxic is at rank #46,499, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈtɒk.sɪk\.

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 92417, this pair ranks #3,010 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Tokio vs toxic

Shared letters: iot. Private to "Tokio": k. Private to "toxic": cx.

"Tokio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "toxic" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tokiootkio · tkoio · toiko · tokkio · tokoi · ttokio
  • toxicotxic · toixc · toxci · toxicc · toxxic · ttoxic · txoic

Frequency comparison

Tokio#45,918
toxic#46,499

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Tokio" and "toxic" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tokio" is a name and "toxic" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Tokio" or "toxic"?
"Tokio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,918 in our French list, against #46,499 for "toxic". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Tokio vs toxic

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Tokio”; for an adjective, it's “toxic”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Tokio” 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