taçavstauWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“taça” and “tau” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,807
“taça” frequency rank
#32,397
“tau” frequency rank
36204
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature taça tau
Definition copo de forma especial, de boca larga e pouco fundo, pode ter algo de pé nome da décima nona letra do alfabeto grego (Τ/τ)

Letter map: taça vs tau

Shared letters muted; letters that set taça and tau apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
taça
3 ch
tau

Corpus notes: taça and tau

taça and tau are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36204, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

taça is recorded at frequency rank #3,807, classified as anoun. tau is at rank #32,397, tagged as anoun, pronounced /taw/.

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 36204, this pair ranks #30,671 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of taça vs tau

Shared letters: at. Private to "taça": ç. Private to "tau": u.

"taça" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tau" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "taça" and "tau" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "taça" vs "tau" - which ranks higher?
"taça" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,807 in our Portuguese list, against #32,397 for "tau". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "taça" and "tau".

  • Full dictionary entry for "taça" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,671 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "taça" and "tau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tau vs til". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #30,671 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