tavstyWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ta is a conjunction, ty is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ta” is a conjunction and “ty” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,113
“ta” frequency rank
#23,157
“ty” frequency rank
27270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ta ty
Definition e: tu, você (pronome pessoal do caso nominativo da segunda pessoa do singular)

Letter map: ta vs ty

Shared letters muted; letters that set ta and ty apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch
ta
2 ch
ty

Role in the sentence - ta and ty

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ta is aconjunction and tyapronoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “ta” becomes y in “ty”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ta is recorded at frequency rank #4,113, classified as aconj. ty is at rank #23,157, tagged as apron.

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 27270, this pair ranks #41,733 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ta vs ty

Shared letters: t. Private to "ta": a. Private to "ty": y.

"ta" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "ty" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ta" and "ty" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ta" is a conjunction and "ty" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ta" vs "ty" - which ranks higher?
"ta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,113 in our Portuguese list, against #23,157 for "ty". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ta" and "ty".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,733 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ta" and "ty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "til vs ty". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #41,733 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list