tocamvstotalTell them apart

Quick tell: tocam is a verb, total is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#12,154
“tocam” frequency rank
#559
“total” frequency rank
12713
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tocam total
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do presente do indicativo do verbo tocar que se refere ao todo

Where the eye mixes tocam and total

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
tocam
5 ch
total

Look-alike desk: tocam vs total

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tocam is /ˈtɔ.kɐ̃w̃/ [ˈtɔ.kɐ̃ʊ̯̃] while total is /tu.ˈtaɫ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12713, 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]. total is at rank #559, tagged as anadj, pronounced /tu.ˈtaɫ/.

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 12713, this pair ranks #59,794 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tocam vs total

Shared letters: aot. Private to "tocam": cm. Private to "total": l.

"tocam" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "total" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tocamotcam · tcoam · toacm · tocamm · toccam · tocma · ttocam
  • totalottal · toatl · totall · totla · tottal · ttoal · ttotal

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tocam" for "total" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tocam" is a verb and "total" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tocam" vs "total" - which ranks higher?
"total" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #559 in our Portuguese list, against #12,154 for "tocam". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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 "total" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,794 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tocam" and "total" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tocam 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 #59,794 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