tímidovstomadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“tímido” and “tomado” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,625
“tímido” frequency rank
#5,360
“tomado” frequency rank
15985
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tímido tomado
Definition estado ou condição de quem tem timidez; que não tem autoconfiança que se tomou

Where the eye mixes tímido and tomado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
tímido
6 ch
tomado

Why the eye confuses tímido with tomado

A purely visual mix-up. tímido (/ˈti.mi.du/) and tomado (/tu.ˈma.du/) 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 15985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tímido is recorded at frequency rank #10,625, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈti.mi.du/. tomado is at rank #5,360, tagged as anadj, pronounced /tu.ˈma.du/.

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 15985, this pair ranks #55,701 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tímido vs tomado

Shared letters: dmot. Private to "tímido": . Private to "tomado": a.

"tímido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "tomado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomadootmado · tmoado · toamdo · tomaddo · tomaod · tomdao · tommado · ttomado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tímido" for "tomado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈti.mi.du/ versus /tu.ˈma.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tímido" or "tomado" show up more?
"tomado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,360 in our Portuguese list, against #10,625 for "tímido". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "tímido" and "tomado" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tímido" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tomado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,701 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tímido" and "tomado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tímido vs titio". 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 #55,701 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