tocarvstrocaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,662
“tocar” frequency rank
#1,264
“troca” frequency rank
2926
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tocar troca
Definition encostar uma parte do corpo em o ato de trocar; substituir uma coisa por outra

Where the eye mixes tocar and troca

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

5 ch
tocar
5 ch
troca

Look-alike desk: tocar vs troca

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tocar is /tu.ˈkaɾ/ while troca is /ˈtɾɔ.kɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2926, 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/. troca is at rank #1,264, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɾɔ.kɐ/.

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 2926, this pair ranks #72,300 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tocar vs troca

Shared letters: acort. Private to "tocar": -. Private to "troca": -.

"tocar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "troca" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tocarotcar · tcoar · toacr · tocarr · toccar · tocra · ttocar
  • trocartoca · torca · trcoa · troac · trocca · trroca · ttroca

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tocar" for "troca" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tocar" is a verb and "troca" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tocar" vs "troca" - which ranks higher?
"troca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,264 in our Portuguese list, against #1,662 for "tocar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "troca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,300 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tocar" and "troca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tocar 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 #72,300 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