Tought or Taught? Here’s The Correct Spelling (Helpful Examples)

Learning how to spell taught might come as a challenge for some people, and that’s okay! Sometimes, spelling is difficult, so it helps to have familiarization with an article like this if you’re struggling. So, what is the correct spelling for the past tense of “teach?”

Tought Or Taught – Which Is The Past Tense Of Teach?

The past tense of “teach” is “taught,” It can only be spelled that way. “Tought” is a misspelling that is incorrect and holds no meaning in English. It’s made mostly because people hear the word spoken and believe that they can follow similar spelling rules for similar sounding words like “thought,” but “tought” is not right in this instance and should be avoided.

Verb	Teach
Past	Taught
Past Participle	Taught

It’s common to see, as the words “thought” and “taught” sound similar, and there aren’t many other words in English that have the same “aught” combination that make the same sound as “taught.” However, “thought” is a completely different word with a different meaning that shouldn’t be brought into place when you’re comparing spellings.

What Is The Difference Between Taught And Thought?

It’s worth knowing a little more about the two words, though, before we go on. It will help you differentiate them more and will encourage correct spelling if you have a better understanding. So, “taught” is the past tense of the verb “to teach.” It involves being shown how to do something or giving students examples that will help them expand their knowledge on a particular subject. Places like schools “teach” children.

The word “thought” is the past tense of the verb “to think,” which involves having a particular belief, idea, or opinion in your head. As you can tell, the two words have absolutely no connection, and the incorrect spelling “tought” that derives from “thought” is completely irrelevant and needs to be avoided if you remember the rules involved.

Examples Of Tought Or Taught

It’s time to look through a few examples of both “tought” and “taught” in sentences. It’s a good idea to include the incorrect version, too, so you can see how badly it fits into each sentence. Try and play along yourself and see if you can spot the correct and incorrect spellings. It helps if you cover up the part of your screen that indicates whether they’re correct! If you’re still not fully familiar with it, we’ve got a quiz coming up that might help!

Correct: I taught the children how to play.

Incorrect: He tought the student how to play guitar.

Correct: We taught you everything you know.

Incorrect: She tought us how to do this right.

Correct: I haven’t taught him since elementary school.

Incorrect: You haven’t tought me anything yet.

Correct: I thought I taught you a lesson already.

Incorrect: They tought me all I’ve ever known.

Correct: We taught you from the day you were a baby.

Incorrect: You tought me all I know.

Quiz: Have You Mastered Taught Vs Thought?

Let’s finish up with a quiz, but instead of the different spellings (which would make the correct answer too easy), we’re going to use “taught” and “thought.” The words sound the same, but as we’ve already stated, they hold completely different meanings. We’ll include them in sentences, and you have to work out which one applies more to the context. It might be challenging, but we’ll include the answers at the end to help you!

1. We (A. taught / B. thought) you might like to go out later tonight.
2. I (A. taught / B. thought) you how to play the piano.
3. She (A. taught / B. thought) I wasn’t coming back.
4. The teacher (A. taught / B. thought) us all we could possibly know on the subject.
5. They couldn’t have (A. taught / B. thought) about it for too long.
6. Why haven’t you put more (A. taught / B. thought) into it?
7. He (A. taught / B. thought) me how to do things I didn’t know I could do.
8. You (A. taught / B. thought) me right from wrong.
9. I (A. taught / B. thought) you’d never come back.
10. We (A. taught / B. thought) you that simple trick.

Quiz Answers

Compare your answers here to see how well you did in the quiz!

1. B
2. A
3. B
4. A
5. B
6. B
7. A
8. A
9. B
10. A

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