takevstaskWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: take is a verb, task is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“take” is a verb and “task” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,341
“take” frequency rank
#34,487
“task” frequency rank
41828
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature take task
Definition tomar (pegar, passar a estar sob posse) tarefa

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
take
4 ch
task

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: take is /teɪk/ while task is /tɑːsk/ (britânica). 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41828, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

take is recorded at frequency rank #7,341, classified as averb, pronounced /teɪk/. task is at rank #34,487, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɑːsk/ (britânica).

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 41828, this pair ranks #24,046 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of take vs task

Shared letters: akt. Private to "take": e. Private to "task": s.

"take" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "task" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • takeatke · taek · takke · tkae · ttake
  • taskatsk · taks · taskk · tassk · tsak · ttask

Frequency comparison

take#7,341
task#34,487

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "take" and "task" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "take" is a verb and "task" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "take" or "task"?
"take" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,341 in our Portuguese list, against #34,487 for "task". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering take vs task

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “take”; for a noun, it's “task”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “take” 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