tocarvsTogaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,662
“tocar” frequency rank
#32,408
“Toga” frequency rank
34070
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tocar Toga
Definition encostar uma parte do corpo em toga, antiga vestimenta romana

Where the eye mixes tocar and Toga

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

5 ch
tocar
4 ch
Toga

Visual trap between tocar and Toga

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tocar is /tu.ˈkaɾ/ while Toga is /ˈtoːɡa/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tocar is recorded at frequency rank #1,662, classified as averb, pronounced /tu.ˈkaɾ/. Toga is at rank #32,408, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtoːɡa/.

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 34070, this pair ranks #33,294 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tocar vs Toga

Shared letters: aot. Private to "tocar": cr. Private to "Toga": g.

"tocar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Toga" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tocarotcar · tcoar · toacr · tocarr · toccar · tocra · ttocar
  • Togaotga · tgoa · toag · togga · ttoga

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tocar" for "Toga" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tocar" is a verb and "Toga" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tocar" vs "Toga" - which ranks higher?
"tocar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,662 in our Portuguese list, against #32,408 for "Toga". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tocar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Toga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,294 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tocar" and "Toga" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Toga 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 #33,294 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