tão vs totó, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“tão” is an adverb and “totó” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#119
“tão” frequency rank: #37,112
“totó” frequency rank: 37231
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	tão	totó
Definition	tanto, com tal intensidade	cão

Where the eye mixes tão and totó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

tão

4 ch

totó

Look-alike desk: tão vs totó

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tão is /ˈtɐ̃w̃/ while totó is /tɔ.ˈtɔ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tão is recorded at frequency rank #119, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈtɐ̃w̃/. totó is at rank #37,112, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɔ.ˈtɔ/.

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 37231, this pair ranks #29,430 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tão vs totó

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tão": ã. Private to "totó": ó.

"tão" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "totó" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tão" and "totó" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tão" is an adverb and "totó" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "tão" or "totó"?

"tão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #119 in our Portuguese list, against #37,112 for "totó". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "tão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "totó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #29,430 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"tão" and "totó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "totó vs tufo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #29,430 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.