tejovstemTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,836
“tejo” frequency rank
#46,838
“tem” frequency rank
93674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tejo tem
Definition Pedazo de piedra plana y redondeada, o trozo de teja que se usa en diversos juegos. Escalón.

Where the eye mixes tejo and tem

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

4 ch
tejo
3 ch
tem

Why the eye confuses tejo with tem

A purely visual mix-up. tejo ([ˈt̪exo]) 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 93674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tejo is recorded at frequency rank #46,836, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪exo]. 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 93674, this pair ranks #1,047 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tejo vs tem

Shared letters: et. Private to "tejo": jo. Private to "tem": m.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tejoetjo · tejjo · teoj · tjeo · ttejo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tejo" and "tem" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪exo] versus /tem/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tejo" vs "tem" - which ranks higher?
"tejo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46,836 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "tejo" and "tem" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tejo" 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 #1,047 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tejo" and "tem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tapo vs tejo". 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 #1,047 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