Which to use
“tónica” is a noun and “tóxico” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,169
- “tónica” frequency rank
- #13,631
- “tóxico” frequency rank
- 61800
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tónica | tóxico |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nota, vogal ou sílaba tónica | que envenena |
Where the eye mixes tónica and tóxico
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tónica and tóxico follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between tónica and tóxico
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tónica is /ˈtɔ.ni.kɐ/ while tóxico is /ˈtɔ.ksi.ku/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tónica is recorded at frequency rank #48,169, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɔ.ni.kɐ/. tóxico is at rank #13,631, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈtɔ.ksi.ku/.
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 61800, this pair ranks #6,958 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tónica vs tóxico
Shared letters: citó. Private to "tónica": an. Private to "tóxico": ox.
"tónica" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "tóxico" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tónica" and "tóxico" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "tónica" vs "tóxico" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tónica" and "tóxico" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tónica" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tóxico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,958 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tónica" and "tóxico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tónica vs toxic". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #6,958 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.