toca vs tocou, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,545
“toca” frequency rank: #4,025
“tocou” frequency rank: 6570
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	toca	tocou
Definition	buraco, natural ou aberto por alguns animais (roedores, aves, desdentados, etc.), usado como abrigo em árvores, solo, pedras ou outros ambientes (como a casa de troncos do castor)	terceira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo tocar

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set toca and tocou apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

toca

5 ch

tocou

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

toca and tocou form a confusable pair in the Portuguese index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

toca is recorded at frequency rank #2,545, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɔ.kɐ/. tocou is at rank #4,025, tagged as averb, pronounced /to.ˈko/.

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 6570, this pair ranks #67,836 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

toca#2,545

tocou#4,025

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "toca" and "tocou" be used interchangeably?

No, "toca" and "tocou" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering toca vs tocou

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “toca”; for a verb, it's “tocou”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “toca” entry
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