Toll vs. Troll — What's the Difference?
By Maham Liaqat & Fiza Rafique — Updated on March 20, 2024
Toll is a fee paid for access or passage, highlighting financial transactions in transport or communication. Troll refers to the act of making provocative comments online, emphasizing disruptive interactions.
Difference Between Toll and Troll
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Tolls are fees charged for the use of certain services or infrastructures, such as roads, bridges, or tunnels, aimed at funding maintenance or construction. Trolling, in contrast, involves individuals making insincere or provocative comments online to upset others.
While tolls serve a functional purpose in financing and managing access to physical or digital infrastructures, trolling disrupts social interactions online. Tolls are an established method of funding and regulating the use of shared resources, ensuring their sustainability and quality. On the other hand, trolling undermines constructive discourse, creating an environment of conflict and antagonism.
Tolls are typically standardized and regulated, with clear rates and conditions for their application. This transparency ensures that users understand the costs associated with using certain services or facilities. In contrast, trolling is unpredictable and varies widely in form and intensity, depending on the individuals involved and the context of the interaction.
The primary distinction between tolls and trolls lies in their purpose and impact. Tolls facilitate the maintenance and improvement of shared resources through financial contributions, while trolls aim to provoke or disturb, often detracting from meaningful communication.
Comparison Chart
Definition
Fee for using specific services
Making provocative comments online
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Purpose
Fund infrastructure, regulate access
Provoke, disrupt online interactions
Context
Roads, bridges, digital services
Social media, forums, online platforms
Impact
Financial, supports service quality
Emotional, disrupts social harmony
Regulation
Standardized rates, transparent
Unpredictable, varies widely
Compare with Definitions
Toll
Fee for service access.
The toll for crossing the bridge went up this year.
Troll
Provocative online behavior.
The article's comments section was overrun by trolls.
Toll
Payment for passage.
The toll booth collects fees from all vehicles.
Troll
Behavior seeking emotional response.
Trolls thrive on the anger and frustration they cause.
Toll
Regulated fee system.
The new toll system uses electronic collection.
Troll
Insincere commentary.
He admitted to trolling the forum for amusement.
Toll
Economic measure for maintenance.
Toll revenue supports road maintenance.
Troll
Deliberate disruption.
Trolls often post inflammatory content to provoke reactions.
Toll
Charge for infrastructure use.
Drivers pay a toll to use the expressway.
Troll
Online antagonism.
Social media platforms are working to limit the impact of trolls.
Toll
A charge payable to use a bridge or road
Motorway tolls
A toll bridge
Troll
A troll is a being in Scandinavian folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings.
Toll
A single ring of a bell
She heard the Cambridge School bell utter a single toll
Troll
(in folklore) an ugly creature depicted as either a giant or a dwarf.
Toll
Charge a toll for the use of (a bridge or road)
The report advocates motorway tolling
Troll
A person who makes a deliberately offensive or provocative online post
One solution is to make a troll's postings invisible to the rest of community once they've been recognized
Toll
(with reference to a bell) sound or cause to sound with a slow, uniform succession of strokes, as a signal or announcement
The priest began tolling the bell
The cathedral bells began to toll for evening service
Troll
A line or bait used in trolling for fish.
Toll
A fixed charge or tax for a privilege, especially for passage across a bridge or along a road.
Troll
Make a deliberately offensive or provocative online post with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them
If people are obviously trolling then I'll delete your posts and do my best to ban you
You folks taking this opportunity to troll me, you really need to reassess your values in your life
Toll
A charge for a service, such as a telephone call to another country.
Troll
Carefully and systematically search an area for something
A group of companies trolling for partnership opportunities
I spent tonight trolling the Internet for expensive lighting gear
Toll
An amount or extent of loss or destruction, as of life, health, or property
"Poverty and inadequate health care take their toll on the quality of a community's health" (Los Angeles Times).
Troll
Walk in a leisurely way; stroll
We all trolled into town
Toll
The act of tolling.
Troll
Sing (something) in a happy and carefree way
He trolled a note or two
Toll
The sound of a bell being struck.
Troll
To fish for by trailing a baited line from behind a slowly moving boat.
Toll
To exact as a toll.
Troll
To fish in by trailing a baited line
Troll the lake for bass.
Toll
To charge a fee for using (a structure, such as a bridge).
Troll
To trail (a baited line) in fishing.
Toll
To sound (a large bell) slowly at regular intervals.
Troll
To move around in (an area) or go to (different places) searching for something
"The players cautiously refrain from saying anything candid to the press trolling the clubhouse" (David Grann).
Toll
To announce or summon by tolling.
Troll
To examine or search through
Trolling the classifieds for a cheap car.
Toll
To sound in slowly repeated single tones.
Troll
To sing in succession the parts of (a round, for example).
Toll
A fee paid for some liberty or privilege, particularly for the privilege of passing over a bridge or on a highway, or for that of vending goods in a fair, market, etc.
Troll
To sing heartily
Troll a carol.
Toll
Loss or damage incurred through a disaster.
The war has taken its toll on the people.
Troll
To post inflammatory or irrelevant material on (an electronic forum) to provoke responses.
Toll
(business) A fee for using any kind of material processing service.
We can handle on a toll basis your needs for spray drying, repackaging, crushing and grinding, and dry blending.
Troll
To fish by trailing a line, as from a moving boat.
Toll
(US) A tollbooth.
We will be replacing some manned tolls with high-speed device readers.
Troll
To stroll along or wander
"As he was extremely early, he trolled past the community center" (David Bezmozgis).
Toll
A liberty to buy and sell within the bounds of a manor.
Troll
To move around in an area or go to different places searching for something.
Toll
A portion of grain taken by a miller as a compensation for grinding.
Troll
To examine or search through something
Trolling through old family photos looking for a picture of my aunt.
Toll
The act or sound of tolling.
Troll
(Music) To sing heartily or gaily.
Toll
(transitive) To impose a fee for the use of.
Once more it is proposed to toll the East River bridges.
Troll
The act of trolling for fish.
Toll
(ambitransitive) To levy a toll on (someone or something).
Troll
A lure, such as a spoon or spinner, that is used for trolling.
Toll
(transitive) To take as a toll.
Troll
(Music) A vocal composition in successive parts; a round.
Toll
To pay a toll or tallage.
Troll
A person who posts inflammatory or otherwise unwanted material on an electronic forum, especially anonymously.
Toll
(ergative) To ring (a bell) slowly and repeatedly.
Martin tolled the great bell every day.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls.
Troll
The material so posted.
Toll
(transitive) To summon by ringing a bell.
The ringer tolled the workers back from the fields for vespers.
Troll
A supernatural creature of Scandinavian folklore, variously portrayed as a friendly or mischievous dwarf or as a giant, that lives in caves, in the hills, or under bridges.
Toll
(transitive) To announce by tolling.
The bells tolled the King’s death.
Troll
(Derogatory) A person, especially an older gay man, considered to be unpleasant or ugly.
Toll
(figuratively) To make a sound as if made by a bell.
Troll
(fantasy) A supernatural being of varying size, now especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.
Toll
To draw; pull; tug; drag.
Troll
Optical ejections from the top of the electrically active core regions of thunderstorms that are red in color that seem to occur after tendrils of vigorous sprites extend downward toward the cloud tops.
Toll
(transitive) To tear in pieces.
Troll
An instance of trolling, especially, in fishing, the trailing of a baited line.
Toll
(transitive) To draw; entice; invite; allure.
Hou many virgins shal she tolle and drawe to þe Lord - "Life of Our Lady"
Troll
A person who posts or says inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages to provoke others on the Internet for their own personal amusement or to manipulate others' perception.
Keyboard warrior
Toll
(transitive) To lure with bait; tole (especially, fish and animals).
Troll
The act of moving round; routine; repetition.
Toll
To take away; to vacate; to annul.
Troll
A song whose parts are sung in succession; a catch; a round.
Toll
(legal) To suspend.
The defendant’s wrongful conduct.
Troll
(obsolete) A trolley.
Toll
To take away; to vacate; to annul.
Troll
(intransitive) To saunter.
Toll
To draw; to entice; to allure. See Tole.
Troll
(intransitive) To trundle, to roll from side to side.
Toll
To cause to sound, as a bell, with strokes slowly and uniformly repeated; as, to toll the funeral bell.
Troll
To draw someone or something out, to entice, to lure as if with trailing bait.
Toll
To strike, or to indicate by striking, as the hour; to ring a toll for; as, to toll a departed friend.
Slow tolls the village clock the drowsy hour.
Troll
To fish using a line and bait or lures trailed behind a boat similarly to trawling; to lure fish with bait.
Toll
To call, summon, or notify, by tolling or ringing.
When hollow murmurs of their evening bellsDismiss the sleepy swains, and toll them to their cells.
Troll
(transitive) To angle for with a trolling line, or with a hook drawn along the surface of the water; hence, to allure.
Toll
To sound or ring, as a bell, with strokes uniformly repeated at intervals, as at funerals, or in calling assemblies, or to announce the death of a person.
The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll.
Now sink in sorrows with a tolling bell.
Troll
(transitive) To fish in; to try to catch fish from.
Toll
To pay toll or tallage.
Troll
To post or make inflammatory or insincere statements so as to attempt to lure others into combative argument for purposes of personal entertainment or to manipulate others' perception, especially in an online community or discussion.
Toll
To take toll; to raise a tax.
Well could he [the miller] steal corn and toll thrice.
No Italian priestShall tithe or toll in our dominions.
Troll
To move circularly; to roll; to turn.
Toll
To collect, as a toll.
Troll
To send about; to circulate, as a vessel in drinking.
Toll
The sound of a bell produced by strokes slowly and uniformly repeated.
Troll
To sing the parts of in succession, as of a round, a catch, and the like; also, to sing loudly, freely or in a carefree way.
Toll
A tax paid for some liberty or privilege, particularly for the privilege of passing over a bridge or on a highway, or for that of vending goods in a fair, market, or the like.
Troll
A supernatural being, often represented as of diminutive size, but sometimes as a giant, and fabled to inhabit caves, hills, and like places; a witch.
Toll
A liberty to buy and sell within the bounds of a manor.
Troll
The act of moving round; routine; repetition.
Toll
A portion of grain taken by a miller as a compensation for grinding.
Troll
A song the parts of which are sung in succession; a catch; a round.
Thence the catch and troll, while "Laughter, holding both his sides," sheds tears to song and ballad pathetic on the woes of married life.
Toll
A fee levied for the use of roads or bridges (used for maintenance)
Troll
A trolley.
Toll
Value measured by what must be given or done or undergone to obtain something;
The cost in human life was enormous
The price of success is hard work
What price glory?
Troll
To move circularly or volubly; to roll; to turn.
To dress and troll the tongue, and roll the eye.
Toll
The sound of a bell being struck;
Saved by the bell
She heard the distant toll of church bells
Troll
To send about; to circulate, as a vessel in drinking.
Then doth she troll to the bowl.
Troll the brown bowl.
Toll
Ring slowly;
For whom the bell tolls
Troll
To sing the parts of in succession, as of a round, a catch, and the like; also, to sing loudly or freely.
Will you troll the catch ?
His sonnets charmed the attentive crowd,By wide-mouthed mortaltrolled aloud.
Toll
Charge a fee for using;
Toll the bridges into New York City
Troll
To angle for with a trolling line, or with a book drawn along the surface of the water; hence, to allure.
Troll
To fish in; to seek to catch fish from.
With patient angle trolls the finny deep.
Troll
To roll; to run about; to move around; as, to troll in a coach and six.
Troll
To move rapidly; to wag.
Troll
To take part in trolling a song.
Troll
To fish with a rod whose line runs on a reel; also, to fish by drawing the hook through the water.
Their young men . . . trolled along the brooks that abounded in fish.
Troll
(Scandanavian folklore) a supernatural creature (either a dwarf or a giant) that is supposed to live in caves or in the mountains
Troll
A partsong in which voices follow each other; one voice starts and others join in one after another until all are singing different parts of the song at the same time;
They enjoyed singing rounds
Troll
A fisherman's lure that is used in trolling;
He used a spinner as his troll
Troll
Angling by drawing a baited line through the water
Troll
Circulate, move around
Troll
Cause to move round and round;
The child trolled her hoop
Troll
Sing the parts of (a round) in succession
Troll
Angle with a hook and line drawn through the water
Troll
Sing loudly and without inhibition
Troll
Praise or celebrate in song;
All tongues shall troll you
Troll
Speak or recite rapidly or in a rolling voice
Common Curiosities
What is the main difference between a toll and a troll?
The main difference is that a toll is a fee for using certain services, while a troll engages in provocative online behavior to provoke or disrupt.
Are there penalties for not paying tolls?
Yes, failing to pay tolls can result in fines, legal action, and other penalties depending on the jurisdiction.
Why do people engage in trolling?
Reasons vary, including seeking attention, entertainment, or to provoke for personal or ideological reasons.
Do all roads have tolls?
Not all roads have tolls; it depends on the funding model of the infrastructure and governmental policies.
Can trolling have legal consequences?
In some cases, especially when it involves harassment or threats, trolling can have legal consequences.
Can trolling affect a brand or business online?
Trolling can negatively impact a brand or business by disrupting online communities and damaging reputations.
Can tolls be avoided?
Tolls can sometimes be avoided by using alternative routes or methods, although this might not always be practical.
How can online trolling be stopped?
Stopping trolling can involve moderation, reporting and blocking mechanisms on platforms, and educating users about respectful online behavior.
Are tolls applicable to all types of vehicles?
While tolls are common for most vehicles, rates can vary, and some vehicles, like emergency services, may be exempt.
Is trolling always harmful?
While some may view trolling as harmless fun, it often has negative impacts on individuals and communities online.
What motivates the implementation of tolls?
Tolls are implemented to fund infrastructure projects and maintenance, manage traffic, and support public services.
How do online platforms detect trolls?
Platforms use a combination of algorithms, user reports, and moderation teams to identify and manage trolling behavior.
How are tolls collected?
Tolls can be collected through cash payments, electronic toll collection systems, or via invoicing based on license plate recognition.
Is there a psychological impact of trolling on victims?
Yes, victims of trolling can experience stress, anxiety, and other negative psychological effects.
What is the societal perception of tolls and trolls?
Tolls are generally accepted as a necessary funding mechanism, while trolling is widely viewed negatively due to its disruptive nature.
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Written by
Maham Liaqat
Co-written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
