tampavstampoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,980
“tampa” frequency rank
#45,618
“tampo” frequency rank
53598
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tampa tampo
Definition peça com que se tapa uma panela, um vaso, uma caixa, etc. o mesmo que tampa; objeto que serve para tampar, vedar, tapar, etc

Where the eye mixes tampa and tampo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
tampa
5 ch
tampo

Look-alike desk: tampa vs tampo

A purely visual mix-up. tampa (/ˈtɐ̃.pɐ/) and tampo (/ˈtɐ̃.pu/) 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 a single letter - a in “tampa” becomes o in “tampo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tampa is recorded at frequency rank #7,980, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɐ̃.pɐ/. tampo is at rank #45,618, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɐ̃.pu/.

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 53598, this pair ranks #11,930 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tampa vs tampo

Shared letters: ampt. Private to "tampa": -. Private to "tampo": o.

"tampa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tampo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tampaatmpa · tamap · tammpa · tamppa · tapma · tmapa · ttampa
  • tampoatmpo · tammpo · tamop · tamppo · tapmo · tmapo · ttampo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tampa" for "tampo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtɐ̃.pɐ/ versus /ˈtɐ̃.pu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tampa" vs "tampo" - which ranks higher?
"tampa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,980 in our Portuguese list, against #45,618 for "tampo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tampa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tampo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,930 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tampa" and "tampo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tampo vs trampa". 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 #11,930 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