Which to use
“té” is a noun and “tres” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,126
- “té” frequency rank
- #155
- “tres” frequency rank
- 4281
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | té | tres |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Dos y uno. |
Where the eye mixes té and tres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: té vs tres
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: té is [ˈt̪e] while tres is [ˈt̪ɾes]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 4281, 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]. tres is at rank #155, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪ɾes].
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 4281, this pair ranks #316,461 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of té vs tres
Shared letters: t. Private to "té": é. Private to "tres": ers.
"té" · 2 letters · shape CV · "tres" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tres ← rtes · ters · tress · trres · trse · ttres
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "té" for "tres" ever safe?
Frequency check: "té" vs "tres" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "té" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #316,461 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "té" and "tres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tale vs té". 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 #316,461 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.