tocadovstocarTell them apart

Quick tell: tocado is a adjective, tocar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tocado” is an adjective and “tocar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,756
“tocado” frequency rank
#1,662
“tocar” frequency rank
13418
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tocado tocar
Definition apalpado, atingido encostar uma parte do corpo em

Where the eye mixes tocado and tocar

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

6 ch
tocado
5 ch
tocar

Look-alike desk: tocado vs tocar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tocado is /tu.ˈka.du/ while tocar is /tu.ˈkaɾ/. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13418, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tocado is recorded at frequency rank #11,756, classified as anadj, pronounced /tu.ˈka.du/. tocar is at rank #1,662, tagged as averb, pronounced /tu.ˈkaɾ/.

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 13418, this pair ranks #58,931 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tocado vs tocar

Shared letters: acot. Private to "tocado": d. Private to "tocar": r.

"tocado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "tocar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tocadootcado · tcoado · toacdo · tocaddo · tocaod · toccado · tocdao · ttocado
  • tocarotcar · tcoar · toacr · tocarr · toccar · tocra · ttocar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tocado" and "tocar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tocado" is an adjective and "tocar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tocado" or "tocar" show up more?
"tocar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,662 in our Portuguese list, against #11,756 for "tocado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tocado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tocar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,931 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tocado" and "tocar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tocado vs tordo". 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 #58,931 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