traçãovstrocadoConfusable pair

Quick tell: tração is a noun, trocado is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tração” is a noun and “trocado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,629
“tração” frequency rank
#11,369
“trocado” frequency rank
24998
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tração trocado
Definition força aplicada sobre um corpo numa direção perpendicular à sua superfície de corte e num sentido tal que provoque a sua rotura permutado

Where the eye mixes tração and trocado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tração runs 6 letters (CCVCVV) against trocado's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
tração
7 ch
trocado

Visual trap between tração and trocado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tração is /tɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while trocado is /tɾu.ˈka.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24998, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tração is recorded at frequency rank #13,629, classified as anoun, pronounced /tɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. trocado is at rank #11,369, tagged as anadj, pronounced /tɾu.ˈka.du/.

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 24998, this pair ranks #44,419 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tração vs trocado

Shared letters: aort. Private to "tração": ãç. Private to "trocado": cd.

"tração" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV  ·  "trocado" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • trocado ← rtocado · torcado · trcoado · troacdo · trocaddo · trocaod · troccado · trocdao

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tração" for "trocado" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tração" is a noun and "trocado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tração" or "trocado" show up more?
"trocado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,369 in our Portuguese list, against #13,629 for "tração". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tração" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trocado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,419 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tração" and "trocado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tração vs travão". 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 #44,419 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