tomado vs tombo, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“tomado” is an adjective and “tombo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,360
“tomado” frequency rank: #19,867
“tombo” frequency rank: 25227
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	tomado	tombo
Definition	que se tomou	ato ou efeito de tombar; queda

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tomado and tombo apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

tomado

5 ch

tombo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tomado is /tu.ˈma.du/ while tombo is /ˈtõ.bu/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25227, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tomado is recorded at frequency rank #5,360, classified as anadj, pronounced /tu.ˈma.du/. tombo is at rank #19,867, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtõ.bu/.

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 25227, this pair ranks #44,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tomado vs tombo

Shared letters: mot. Private to "tomado": ad. Private to "tombo": b.

"tomado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "tombo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

tomado ← otmado · tmoado · toamdo · tomaddo · tomaod · tomdao · tommado · ttomado
tombo ← otmbo · tmobo · tobmo · tombbo · tommbo · tomob · ttombo

Frequency comparison

tomado#5,360

tombo#19,867

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tomado" and "tombo" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tomado" is an adjective and "tombo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "tomado" or "tombo"?

"tomado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,360 in our Portuguese list, against #19,867 for "tombo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tomado vs tombo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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