tejavstemWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“teja” and “tem” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,965
“teja” frequency rank
#46,838
“tem” frequency rank
75803
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature teja tem
Definition Pieza con la que se forman cubiertas en los edificios. Escalón.

Where the eye mixes teja and tem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
teja
3 ch
tem

Look-alike desk: teja vs tem

A purely visual mix-up. teja ([ˈt̪exa]) and tem (/tem/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

teja is recorded at frequency rank #28,965, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪exa]. tem is at rank #46,838, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tem/.

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 75803, this pair ranks #18,885 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of teja vs tem

Shared letters: et. Private to "teja": aj. Private to "tem": m.

"teja" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tem" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tejaetja · teaj · tejja · tjea · tteja

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "teja" and "tem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪exa] versus /tem/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "teja" or "tem" show up more?
"teja" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,965 in our Spanish list, against #46,838 for "tem". 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 "teja" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,885 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "teja" and "tem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tem vs tomb". 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 #18,885 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list