Which to use
“til” and “tio” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,136
- “til” frequency rank
- #2,211
- “tio” frequency rank
- 46347
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | til | tio |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sinal diacrítico (~) utilizado para modificar a pronúncia de determinadas letras no português (indicando nasalização) e em alguns outros idiomas ( bretão ...) | irmão da mãe ou do pai |
Where the eye mixes til and tio
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses til with tio
A purely visual mix-up. til (/ˈʧiw/) and tio (/ti.u/ [t͡ʃiu̯], [tiu̯]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - l in “til” becomes o in “tio”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46347, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
til is recorded at frequency rank #44,136, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʧiw/. tio is at rank #2,211, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ti.u/ [t͡ʃiu̯], [tiu̯].
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 46347, this pair ranks #18,973 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of til vs tio
Shared letters: it. Private to "til": l. Private to "tio": o.
"til" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tio" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "til" and "tio" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "til" vs "tio" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "til" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,973 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "til" and "tio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tifo vs til". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #18,973 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.