tolovstousWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tolo is a adjective, tous is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tolo” is an adjective and “tous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,929
“tolo” frequency rank
#43,687
“tous” frequency rank
61616
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tolo tous
Definition sem inteligência ou sem juízo todos, todo mundo.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tolo and tous apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
tolo
4 ch
tous

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tolo is anadjective and tousapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tolo is recorded at frequency rank #17,929, classified as anadj. tous is at rank #43,687, tagged as apron, pronounced /tu/ (diante de consoante), AFI: /tuz/ (diante de vogal e h mudo).

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 61616, this pair ranks #7,051 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tolo vs tous

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tolo": l. Private to "tous": su.

"tolo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tolootlo · tloo · tollo · ttolo
  • tousotus · tosu · touss · ttous · tuos

Frequency comparison

tolo#17,929
tous#43,687

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tolo" and "tous" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tolo" is an adjective and "tous" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tolo" or "tous"?
"tolo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,929 in our Portuguese list, against #43,687 for "tous". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tolo vs tous

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “tolo”; for a pronoun, it's “tous”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tolo” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list