Which to use
“tombo” and “tumba” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,867
- “tombo” frequency rank
- #17,402
- “tumba” frequency rank
- 37269
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tombo | tumba |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato ou efeito de tombar; queda | lápide sepulcral |
Where the eye mixes tombo and tumba
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tombo and tumba follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between tombo and tumba
A purely visual mix-up. tombo (/ˈtõ.bu/) and tumba (/ˈtũ.bɐ/) 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 37269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tombo is recorded at frequency rank #19,867, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtõ.bu/. tumba is at rank #17,402, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtũ.bɐ/.
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 37269, this pair ranks #29,383 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tombo vs tumba
Shared letters: bmt. Private to "tombo": o. Private to "tumba": au.
"tombo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tumba" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tombo" and "tumba" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "tombo" or "tumba"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tombo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tumba" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #29,383 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tombo" and "tumba" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tampo vs tombo". 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 #29,383 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.