Which to use
“té” is a noun and “tel” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,126
- “té” frequency rank
- #7,632
- “tel” frequency rank
- 11758
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | té | tel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (Camellia sinensis) Arbusto de la famila de las cameliáceas, originario de Assam y de Bengala. Fue cultivado en China desde el siglo IV e introducido en Europa en el siglo XVI. Es perenne, de no más de 4 metros de altura, con hojas lanceoladas, ligeramente pubescentes, de hasta 15 centímetros de longitud y 5 de ancho. Las flores son blanco-amarillentas. | Tal. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set té and tel apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
té and tel form a confusable pair in the Spanish index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
té is recorded at frequency rank #4,126, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪e]. tel is at rank #7,632, tagged as anadj, pronounced [tɛl].
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 11758, this pair ranks #293,995 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "té" and "tel" be used interchangeably?
Remembering té vs tel
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “té”; for an adjective, it's “tel”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “té” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable