tom vs try, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#1,262
“tom” frequency rank: #20,742
“try” frequency rank: 22004
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes tom and try

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

tom

3 ch

try

Why the eye confuses tom with try

A purely visual mix-up. tom (/ˈtõ/) and try (/traɪ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22004, 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/. try is at rank #20,742, tagged as anoun, pronounced /traɪ/.

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 22004, this pair ranks #48,136 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tom vs try

Shared letters: t. Private to "tom": mo. Private to "try": ry.

"tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "try" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

Which is more common, "tom" or "try"?

"tom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,262 in our Portuguese list, against #20,742 for "try". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "tom" and "try" 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 "try" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #48,136 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"tom" and "try" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "til vs try". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #48,136 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.