tomarvstornarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#611
“tomar” frequency rank
#859
“tornar” frequency rank
1470
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tomar tornar
Definition agarrar voltar

Where the eye mixes tomar and tornar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
tomar
6 ch
tornar

Look-alike desk: tomar vs tornar

A purely visual mix-up. tomar (/tu.ˈmaɾ/) and tornar (/tuɾ.ˈnaɾ/) 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 1470, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tomar is recorded at frequency rank #611, classified as averb, pronounced /tu.ˈmaɾ/. tornar is at rank #859, tagged as averb, pronounced /tuɾ.ˈnaɾ/.

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 1470, this pair ranks #74,097 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tomar vs tornar

Shared letters: aort. Private to "tomar": m. Private to "tornar": n.

"tomar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tornar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomarotmar · tmoar · toamr · tomarr · tommar · tomra · ttomar
  • tornarotrnar · tonrar · toranr · tornarr · tornnar · tornra · torrnar · tronar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tomar" and "tornar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/tu.ˈmaɾ/ versus /tuɾ.ˈnaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tomar" vs "tornar" - which ranks higher?
"tomar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #611 in our Portuguese list, against #859 for "tornar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tomar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tornar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,097 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tomar" and "tornar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tomar vs tosa". 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 #74,097 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list