Which to use
“til” is a noun and “tu” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,136
- “til” frequency rank
- #243
- “tu” frequency rank
- 44379
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | til | tu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sinal diacrítico (~) utilizado para modificar a pronúncia de determinadas letras no português (indicando nasalização) e em alguns outros idiomas ( bretão ...) | expressa sonoridade produzido por telefone indicativo de que o aparelho telefonado foi posto no gancho ou que a linha caiu |
Where the eye mixes til and tu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses til with tu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: til is /ˈʧiw/ while tu is /ˈtu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44379, 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/. tu is at rank #243, tagged as anintj, pronounced /ˈtu/.
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 44379, this pair ranks #21,121 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of til vs tu
Shared letters: t. Private to "til": il. Private to "tu": u.
"til" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tu" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "til" for "tu" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "til" or "tu" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "til" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,121 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "til" and "tu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tifo vs til". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #21,121 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.