tocarávstomabaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,702
“tocará” frequency rank
#8,886
“tomaba” frequency rank
27588
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tocará tomaba
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de tocar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de tomar o de tomarse.

Where the eye mixes tocará and tomaba

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

6 ch
tocará
6 ch
tomaba

Look-alike desk: tocará vs tomaba

A purely visual mix-up. tocará ([t̪okaˈɾa]) and tomaba ([t̪oˈmaβ̞a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tocará is recorded at frequency rank #18,702, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪okaˈɾa]. tomaba is at rank #8,886, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪oˈmaβ̞a].

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 27588, this pair ranks #226,086 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tocará vs tomaba

Shared letters: aot. Private to "tocará": crá. Private to "tomaba": bm.

"tocará" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "tomaba" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomabaotmaba · tmoaba · toamba · tomaab · tomabba · tomava · tombaa · tommaba

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tocará" for "tomaba" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([t̪okaˈɾa] versus [t̪oˈmaβ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tocará" or "tomaba"?
"tomaba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,886 in our Spanish list, against #18,702 for "tocará". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tocará" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tomaba" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #226,086 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tocará" and "tomaba" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tiara vs tocará". 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 #226,086 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