talavstapeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,251
“tala” frequency rank
#24,801
“tape” frequency rank
61052
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tala tape
Definition a moeda de Samoa toque suave

Where the eye mixes tala and tape

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tala and tape follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
tala
4 ch
tape

Why the eye confuses tala with tape

A purely visual mix-up. tala (/ˈta.lɐ/) and tape (/tap/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tala is recorded at frequency rank #36,251, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈta.lɐ/. tape is at rank #24,801, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tap/.

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 61052, this pair ranks #7,342 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tala vs tape

Shared letters: at. Private to "tala": l. Private to "tape": ep.

"tala" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tape" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tala ← taal · talla · tlaa · ttala
  • tape ← atpe · taep · tappe · tpae · ttape

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tala" and "tape" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈta.lɐ/ versus /tap/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tala" or "tape"?
"tape" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,801 in our Portuguese list, against #36,251 for "tala". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "tala" and "tape" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tape" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,342 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tala" and "tape" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tala 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 #7,342 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