I am continuously amazed at the otherwise intelligent, articulate people who misuse these three homophones in their writing. C’mon, folks, we learned this stuff in what–the third grade? Take a minute to refresh your memory.
Two always refers to the number: “We are number two in our division.”
Too is a synonym for
also (“I’m hungry, too!”), or it is used as an adverb, which means it modifies a verb or an adjective (too hungry, too smart, too doggone tired).
To is (almost always) a preposition: “Let’s get to it!” or “I’ve got work to do.”
If those distinctions don’t help you, look for something in this list of examples that matches your situation:
Two | Too | To |
She had two children. | Motherhood was too much for her. | She took the children to her mother's. |
There were two gloves in the pair. | They were too small for his hands. | The judge asked to see them. |
Two is not the loneliest number. | Can I go, too? | We will travel to the moon. |
When I was two, I could not read. | I was too young. | Eventually, I learned to read and write. |
I counted off his good qualities: one, two, three. | He was sweet, kind, and funny, too. | Someday, I hope to marry him. |
We two are joined at the hip (meaning, "the two of us are joined"). | We, too, are joined at the hip (meaning, "like you, we--any number of us--also are joined"). | To join these people in Holy Matrimony... |
It was just the two of us. | She was too close for comfort. | I could never get used to that. |
Did the game have two periods, or three? | They were too near the goal line. | The score was five to seven. |