Which to use
“tax” and “til” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,800
- “tax” frequency rank
- #44,136
- “til” frequency rank
- 79936
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tax | til |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | apócope de táxi | sinal diacrítico (~) utilizado para modificar a pronúncia de determinadas letras no português (indicando nasalização) e em alguns outros idiomas ( bretão ...) |
Where the eye mixes tax and til
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. tax and til follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between tax and til
A purely visual mix-up. tax (/taks/) and til (/ˈʧiw/) 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 79936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tax is recorded at frequency rank #35,800, classified as anoun, pronounced /taks/. til is at rank #44,136, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʧiw/.
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 79936, this pair ranks #1,414 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tax vs til
Shared letters: t. Private to "tax": ax. Private to "til": il.
"tax" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "til" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tax" for "til" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tax" or "til" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tax" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "til" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,414 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tax" and "til" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tifo vs til". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,414 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.