traçovstrataWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: traço is a noun, trata is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“traço” is a noun and “trata” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,759
“traço” frequency rank
#766
“trata” frequency rank
12525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature traço trata
Definition uma marca, sinal, ou evidência da existência, influência ou ação de algum agente ou evento; vestígio terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo tratar

Letter map: traço vs trata

Shared letters muted; letters that set traço and trata apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
traço
5 ch
trata

Role in the sentence - traço and trata

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: traço is anoun and trataaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12525, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

traço is recorded at frequency rank #11,759, classified as anoun. trata is at rank #766, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈtɾa.tə/.

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 12525, this pair ranks #60,017 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of traço vs trata

Shared letters: art. Private to "traço": . Private to "trata": -.

"traço" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "trata" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tratartata · tarta · traat · tratta · trrata · trtaa · ttrata

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "traço" and "trata" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "traço" is a noun and "trata" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "traço" or "trata" show up more?
"trata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #766 in our Portuguese list, against #11,759 for "traço". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've compared "traço" and "trata". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "traço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trata" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,017 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "traço" and "trata" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "traço 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 #60,017 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