Which to use
“Tal” and “told” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #382
- “Tal” frequency rank
- #29,938
- “told” frequency rank
- 30320
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Tal | told |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | vale | taxa; tarifa (imposto cobrado sobre bens importados ou, em casos mais raros, exportados) |
Where the eye mixes Tal and told
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Tal with told
A purely visual mix-up. Tal (/taːl/) and told (/tɔl/, [tˢʌlˀ], [ˈtʌlˀ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Tal is recorded at frequency rank #382, classified as anoun, pronounced /taːl/. told is at rank #29,938, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɔl/, [tˢʌlˀ], [ˈtʌlˀ].
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 30320, this pair ranks #38,067 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Tal vs told
Shared letters: lt. Private to "Tal": a. Private to "told": do.
"Tal" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "told" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- told ← otld · tlod · todl · toldd · tolld · ttold
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Tal" for "told" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Tal" vs "told" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Tal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "told" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #38,067 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Tal" and "told" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "told vs tosa". 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 #38,067 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.