tatovstotóWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tato is a adjective, totó is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#24,471
“tato” frequency rank
#37,112
“totó” frequency rank
61583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tato totó
Definition gago cão

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tato and totó apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
tato
4 ch
totó

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tato is /ˈta.tu/ while totó is /tɔ.ˈtɔ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tato is recorded at frequency rank #24,471, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈta.tu/. 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 61583, this pair ranks #7,075 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tato vs totó

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tato": a. Private to "totó": ó.

"tato" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "totó" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tatoatto · taot · tatto · ttao · ttato

Frequency comparison

tato#24,471
totó#37,112

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tato" and "totó" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tato" is an adjective and "totó" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tato" or "totó"?
"tato" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,471 in our Portuguese list, against #37,112 for "totó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tato vs totó

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “tato”; for a noun, it's “totó”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tato” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list