Which to use
“talco” and “tale” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,106
- “talco” frequency rank
- #40,352
- “tale” frequency rank
- 77458
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | talco | tale |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mineral derivado do magnésio e que se apresenta em agregados de lâminas | discurso, fala |
Where the eye mixes talco and tale
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses talco with tale
A purely visual mix-up. talco (/ˈtaɫ.ku/) and tale (/taːlə/, [ˈtˢæːlə]) 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 77458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
talco is recorded at frequency rank #37,106, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtaɫ.ku/. tale is at rank #40,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced /taːlə/, [ˈtˢæːlə].
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 77458, this pair ranks #1,875 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of talco vs tale
Shared letters: alt. Private to "talco": co. Private to "tale": e.
"talco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "talco" for "tale" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "talco" or "tale" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "talco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,875 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "talco" and "tale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "talão vs tale". 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 #1,875 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.