tipovstoloWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#192
“tipo” frequency rank
#17,929
“tolo” frequency rank
18121
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tipo tolo
Definition série de características que definem as coisas sem inteligência ou sem juízo

Letter map: tipo vs tolo

Shared letters muted; letters that set tipo and tolo apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
tipo
4 ch
tolo

Part-of-speech tell for tipo / tolo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tipo is anoun and toloanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tipo is recorded at frequency rank #192, classified as anoun. tolo is at rank #17,929, tagged as anadj.

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 18121, this pair ranks #52,943 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tipo vs tolo

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tipo": ip. Private to "tolo": l.

"tipo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tolo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tipoitpo · tiop · tippo · tpio · ttipo
  • tolootlo · tloo · tollo · ttolo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tipo" and "tolo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tipo" is a noun and "tolo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tipo" or "tolo"?
"tipo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #192 in our Portuguese list, against #17,929 for "tolo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've compared "tipo" and "tolo". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tipo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tolo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,943 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tipo" and "tolo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tolo vs tufo". 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 #52,943 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