tumbavstumorWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,402
“tumba” frequency rank
#9,122
“tumor” frequency rank
26524
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tumba tumor
Definition lápide sepulcral inchaço

Where the eye mixes tumba and tumor

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tumba (CVCCV) and tumor (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
tumba
5 ch
tumor

Visual trap between tumba and tumor

A purely visual mix-up. tumba (/ˈtũ.bɐ/) and tumor (/tu.ˈmoɾ/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26524, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tumba is recorded at frequency rank #17,402, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtũ.bɐ/. tumor is at rank #9,122, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tu.ˈmoɾ/.

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 26524, this pair ranks #42,631 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tumba vs tumor

Shared letters: mtu. Private to "tumba": ab. Private to "tumor": or.

"tumba" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tumor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tumba ← tmuba · ttumba · tubma · tumab · tumbba · tummba · utmba
  • tumor ← tmuor · ttumor · tummor · tumorr · tumro · tuomr · utmor

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tumba" and "tumor" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtũ.bɐ/ versus /tu.ˈmoɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tumba" vs "tumor" - which ranks higher?
"tumor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,122 in our Portuguese list, against #17,402 for "tumba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tumba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tumor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,631 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tumba" and "tumor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tumba vs tuna". 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 #42,631 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