textovstontoTell them apart

Quick tell: texto is a noun, tonto is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#680
“texto” frequency rank
#19,014
“tonto” frequency rank
19694
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature texto tonto
Definition conjunto palavras encadeadas formando um sentido ou conceito que sente ou tem tonturas

Where the eye mixes texto and tonto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
texto
5 ch
tonto

Visual trap between texto and tonto

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: texto is /ˈtɐjʃ.tu/ while tonto is /ˈtõ.tu/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19694, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

texto is recorded at frequency rank #680, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɐjʃ.tu/. tonto is at rank #19,014, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈtõ.tu/.

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 19694, this pair ranks #50,990 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of texto vs tonto

Shared letters: ot. Private to "texto": ex. Private to "tonto": n.

"texto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tonto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • textoetxto · tetxo · texot · textto · texxto · ttexto · txeto
  • tontootnto · tnoto · tonnto · tonot · tontto · totno · ttonto

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "texto" and "tonto" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "texto" is a noun and "tonto" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "texto" vs "tonto" - which ranks higher?
"texto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #680 in our Portuguese list, against #19,014 for "tonto". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "texto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tonto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,990 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "texto" and "tonto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tengo vs tonto". 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 #50,990 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