tak vs tom, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“tak” is a particle and “tom” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,692
“tak” frequency rank: #1,262
“tom” frequency rank: 43954
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	tak	tom
Definition	sim	qualquer som, no que se refere à sua amplitude, fonte, potência, etc.:

Letter map: tak vs tom

Shared letters muted; letters that set tak and tom apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

tak

3 ch

tom

Role in the sentence - tak and tom

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tak is aparticle and tomanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43954, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tak is recorded at frequency rank #42,692, classified as aparticle. tom is at rank #1,262, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtõ/.

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 43954, this pair ranks #21,610 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tak vs tom

Shared letters: t. Private to "tak": ak. Private to "tom": mo.

"tak" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tak" for "tom" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tak" is a particle and "tom" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "tak" vs "tom" - which ranks higher?

"tom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,262 in our Portuguese list, against #42,692 for "tak". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "tak" and "tom". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "tak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "tom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #21,610 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"tak" and "tom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tak vs til". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #21,610 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.