Which to use
“tom” is a noun and “tous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,262
- “tom” frequency rank
- #43,687
- “tous” frequency rank
- 44949
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tom | tous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | qualquer som, no que se refere à sua amplitude, fonte, potência, etc.: | todos, todo mundo. |
Where the eye mixes tom and tous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tom and tous
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tom is /ˈtõ/ while tous is /tu/ (diante de consoante), AFI: /tuz/ (diante de vogal e h mudo). 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 (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44949, 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/. 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 44949, this pair ranks #20,479 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tom vs tous
Shared letters: ot. Private to "tom": m. Private to "tous": su.
"tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tous ← otus · tosu · touss · ttous · tuos
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tom" and "tous" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tom" or "tous" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,479 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tom" and "tous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tosa vs tous". 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 #20,479 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.