tocamvstoparWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,154
“tocam” frequency rank
#39,889
“topar” frequency rank
52043
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tocam topar
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do presente do indicativo do verbo tocar encontrar algo

Where the eye mixes tocam and topar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tocam and topar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
tocam
5 ch
topar

Why the eye confuses tocam with topar

A purely visual mix-up. tocam (/ˈtɔ.kɐ̃w̃/ [ˈtɔ.kɐ̃ʊ̯̃]) and topar (/tu.ˈpaɾ/) 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 52043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tocam is recorded at frequency rank #12,154, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈtɔ.kɐ̃w̃/ [ˈtɔ.kɐ̃ʊ̯̃]. topar is at rank #39,889, tagged as averb, pronounced /tu.ˈpaɾ/.

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 52043, this pair ranks #13,089 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tocam vs topar

Shared letters: aot. Private to "tocam": cm. Private to "topar": pr.

"tocam" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "topar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tocam ← otcam · tcoam · toacm · tocamm · toccam · tocma · ttocam
  • topar ← toapr · toparr · toppar · topra · tpoar · ttopar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tocam" and "topar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtɔ.kɐ̃w̃/ [ˈtɔ.kɐ̃ʊ̯̃] versus /tu.ˈpaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tocam" or "topar" show up more?
"tocam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,154 in our Portuguese list, against #39,889 for "topar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tocam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "topar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,089 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tocam" and "topar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "topar vs tosa". 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 #13,089 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