toavstomarTell them apart

Which to use

“toa” and “tomar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#39,489
“toa” frequency rank
#440
“tomar” frequency rank
39929
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature toa tomar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de toar. Coger alguna cosa con la mano.

Where the eye mixes toa and tomar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
toa
5 ch
tomar

Look-alike desk: toa vs tomar

A purely visual mix-up. toa ([ˈt̪oa]) and tomar ([t̪oˈmaɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

toa is recorded at frequency rank #39,489, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪oa]. tomar is at rank #440, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪oˈmaɾ].

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 39929, this pair ranks #161,871 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of toa vs tomar

Shared letters: aot. Private to "toa": -. Private to "tomar": mr.

"toa" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "tomar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomarotmar · tmoar · toamr · tomarr · tommar · tomra · ttomar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "toa" and "tomar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪oa] versus [t̪oˈmaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "toa" vs "tomar" - which ranks higher?
"tomar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #440 in our Spanish list, against #39,489 for "toa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "toa" and "tomar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "toa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tomar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #161,871 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "toa" and "tomar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "toa vs toys". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #161,871 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list