tom vs totó, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#1,262
“tom” frequency rank: #37,112
“totó” frequency rank: 38374
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	tom	totó
Definition	qualquer som, no que se refere à sua amplitude, fonte, potência, etc.:	cão

Where the eye mixes tom and totó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

tom

4 ch

totó

Why the eye confuses tom with totó

A purely visual mix-up. tom (/ˈtõ/) and totó (/tɔ.ˈtɔ/) 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 38374, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tom is recorded at frequency rank #1,262, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtõ/. totó is at rank #37,112, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɔ.ˈtɔ/.

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 38374, this pair ranks #28,097 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tom vs totó

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tom": m. Private to "totó": ó.

"tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "totó" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tom" for "totó" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (/ˈtõ/ versus /tɔ.ˈtɔ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tom" or "totó" show up more?

"tom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,262 in our Portuguese list, against #37,112 for "totó". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "tom" and "totó" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "tom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "totó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #28,097 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"tom" and "totó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "totó vs tufo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #28,097 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.