tomatevstómeseWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,244
“tomate” frequency rank
#35,292
“tómese” frequency rank
41536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tomate tómese
Definition (Solanum lycopersicum) Planta americana de la familia de las solanáceas, una hierba anual, rastrera o trepadora, de tallos pubescentes y fruto en baya de color rojo, muy jugoso y de sabor ligeramente ácido. Segunda persona del singular (usted) del imperativo afirmativo de tomarse (con el pronombre «se» enclítico).

Where the eye mixes tomate and tómese

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tomate and tómese follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
tomate
6 ch
tómese

Why the eye confuses tomate with tómese

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tomate is [t̪oˈmat̪e] while tómese is [ˈt̪omese]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tomate is recorded at frequency rank #6,244, classified as anoun, pronounced [t̪oˈmat̪e]. tómese is at rank #35,292, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪omese].

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 41536, this pair ranks #153,133 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tomate vs tómese

Shared letters: emt. Private to "tomate": ao. Private to "tómese": só.

"tomate" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "tómese" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomate ← otmate · tmoate · toamte · tomaet · tomatte · tommate · tomtae · ttomate

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tomate" and "tómese" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tomate" is a noun and "tómese" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tomate" vs "tómese" - which ranks higher?
"tomate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,244 in our Spanish list, against #35,292 for "tómese". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tomate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tómese" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #153,133 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tomate" and "tómese" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tomase vs tómese". 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 #153,133 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