tomarvstopaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tomar is a verb, topa is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tomar” is a verb and “topa” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#440
“tomar” frequency rank
#34,810
“topa” frequency rank
35250
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tomar topa
Definition Coger alguna cosa con la mano. Motón de driza con que se izaban o subían las velas de las galeras.

Where the eye mixes tomar and topa

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

5 ch
tomar
4 ch
topa

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tomar is [t̪oˈmaɾ] while topa is [ˈt̪opa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35250, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tomar is recorded at frequency rank #440, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪oˈmaɾ]. topa is at rank #34,810, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪opa].

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 35250, this pair ranks #187,113 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tomar vs topa

Shared letters: aot. Private to "tomar": mr. Private to "topa": p.

"tomar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "topa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomarotmar · tmoar · toamr · tomarr · tommar · tomra · ttomar
  • topatoap · toppa · tpoa · ttopa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tomar" and "topa" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tomar" is a verb and "topa" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tomar" or "topa"?
"tomar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #440 in our Spanish list, against #34,810 for "topa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list