traçovstrapoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,759
“traço” frequency rank
#40,367
“trapo” frequency rank
52126
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature traço trapo
Definition uma marca, sinal, ou evidência da existência, influência ou ação de algum agente ou evento; vestígio pedaço de pano velho ou usado

Letter map: traço vs trapo

Shared letters muted; letters that set traço and trapo apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. traço and trapo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
traço
5 ch
trapo

Spelling & dictionary notes on traço vs trapo

traço and trapo are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - ç in “traço” becomes p in “trapo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52126, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

traço is recorded at frequency rank #11,759, classified as anoun. trapo is at rank #40,367, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɾa.pu/.

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 52126, this pair ranks #13,012 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of traço vs trapo

Shared letters: aort. Private to "traço": ç. Private to "trapo": p.

"traço" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "trapo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • trapo ← rtapo · tarpo · traop · trappo · trpao · trrapo · ttrapo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "traço" for "trapo" ever safe?
No. They differ by a single letter - ç in “traço” becomes p in “trapo”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "traço" or "trapo"?
"traço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,759 in our Portuguese list, against #40,367 for "trapo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "traço" and "trapo".

  • Full dictionary entry for "traço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trapo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,012 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "traço" and "trapo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trapo 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 #13,012 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