tio vs took, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“tio” is a noun and “took” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,211
“tio” frequency rank: #40,361
“took” frequency rank: 42572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	tio	took
Definition	irmão da mãe ou do pai	pretérito do verbo take

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tio and took apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

tio

4 ch

took

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tio is /ti.u/ [t͡ʃiu̯], [tiu̯] while took is /tʊk/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tio is recorded at frequency rank #2,211, classified as anoun, pronounced /ti.u/ [t͡ʃiu̯], [tiu̯]. took is at rank #40,361, tagged as averb, pronounced /tʊk/.

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 42572, this pair ranks #23,185 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tio vs took

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tio": i. Private to "took": k.

"tio" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "took" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

took ← otok · tok · toko · tookk · ttook

Frequency comparison

tio#2,211

took#40,361

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tio" and "took" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tio" is a noun and "took" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "tio" or "took"?

"tio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,211 in our Portuguese list, against #40,361 for "took". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering tio vs took

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “tio”; for a verb, it's “took”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tio” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable