tocouvstookConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,025
“tocou” frequency rank
#40,361
“took” frequency rank
44386
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tocou took
Definition terceira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo tocar pretérito do verbo take

Where the eye mixes tocou and took

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

5 ch
tocou
4 ch
took

Look-alike desk: tocou vs took

A purely visual mix-up. tocou (/to.ˈko/) and took (/tʊk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44386, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tocou is recorded at frequency rank #4,025, classified as averb, pronounced /to.ˈko/. took is at rank #40,361, tagged as averb, pronounced /tʊk/.

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 44386, this pair ranks #21,112 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tocou vs took

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tocou": cu. Private to "took": k.

"tocou" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "took" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tocouotcou · tcoou · toccou · tocuo · toocu · ttocou
  • tookotok · tok · toko · tookk · ttook

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tocou" and "took" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/to.ˈko/ versus /tʊk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tocou" or "took"?
"tocou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,025 in our Portuguese list, against #40,361 for "took". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tocou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "took" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,112 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tocou" and "took" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "took 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 #21,112 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