tomovstoolConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,352
“tomo” frequency rank
#29,542
“tool” frequency rank
35894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tomo tool
Definition volume de obra impressa ou manuscrita ferramenta

Where the eye mixes tomo and tool

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
tomo
4 ch
tool

Why the eye confuses tomo with tool

A purely visual mix-up. tomo (/ˈto.mu/) and tool (/tu:l/) 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 35894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tomo is recorded at frequency rank #6,352, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈto.mu/. tool is at rank #29,542, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tu:l/.

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 35894, this pair ranks #31,052 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tomo vs tool

Shared letters: ot. Private to "tomo": m. Private to "tool": l.

"tomo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tool" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomootmo · tmoo · tommo · toom · ttomo
  • toolotol · tol · tooll · ttool

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tomo" and "tool" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈto.mu/ versus /tu:l/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tomo" vs "tool" - which ranks higher?
"tomo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,352 in our Portuguese list, against #29,542 for "tool". 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 "tomo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tool" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,052 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tomo" and "tool" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tool 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 #31,052 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