tónicavstoxinaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,169
“tónica” frequency rank
#26,226
“toxina” frequency rank
74395
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tónica toxina
Definition nota, vogal ou sílaba tónica substância produzida por um ser vivo que é tóxica a outro ser vivo (ou estimula a produção de anticorpos) de outra espécie.

Where the eye mixes tónica and toxina

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tónica and toxina follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
tónica
6 ch
toxina

Visual trap between tónica and toxina

A purely visual mix-up. tónica (/ˈtɔ.ni.kɐ/) and toxina (/tɔ.ˈksi.nɐ/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74395, 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/. toxina is at rank #26,226, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɔ.ˈksi.nɐ/.

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 74395, this pair ranks #2,536 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tónica vs toxina

Shared letters: aint. Private to "tónica": có. Private to "toxina": ox.

"tónica" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "toxina" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • toxina ← otxina · toixna · toxian · toxinna · toxnia · toxxina · ttoxina · txoina

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tónica" and "toxina" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtɔ.ni.kɐ/ versus /tɔ.ˈksi.nɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tónica" vs "toxina" - which ranks higher?
"toxina" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,226 in our Portuguese list, against #48,169 for "tónica". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "tónica" and "toxina" 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 "toxina" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,536 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tónica" and "toxina" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tónica vs toxic". 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 #2,536 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