taskvstaxaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,487
“task” frequency rank
#1,590
“taxa” frequency rank
36077
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature task taxa
Definition tarefa pagamento individualizado feito por pessoa física ou jurídica pelo uso de algum serviço público

Where the eye mixes task and taxa

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

4 ch
task
4 ch
taxa

Look-alike desk: task vs taxa

A purely visual mix-up. task (/tɑːsk/ (britânica)) and taxa (/ˈta.ʃɐ/) 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 36077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

task is recorded at frequency rank #34,487, classified as anoun, pronounced /tɑːsk/ (britânica). taxa is at rank #1,590, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈta.ʃɐ/.

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 36077, this pair ranks #30,808 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of task vs taxa

Shared letters: at. Private to "task": ks. Private to "taxa": x.

"task" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "taxa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taskatsk · taks · taskk · tassk · tsak · ttask
  • taxaatxa · taax · taxxa · ttaxa · txaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "task" for "taxa" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/tɑːsk/ (britânica) versus /ˈta.ʃɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "task" or "taxa" show up more?
"taxa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,590 in our Portuguese list, against #34,487 for "task". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "task" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "taxa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,808 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "task" and "taxa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "task 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 #30,808 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