temíavstemoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,364
“temía” frequency rank
#5,898
“temo” frequency rank
19262
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature temía temo
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de temer. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de temar.

Where the eye mixes temía and temo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
temía
4 ch
temo

Visual trap between temía and temo

A purely visual mix-up. temía ([t̪eˈmia]) and temo ([ˈt̪emo]) 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 19262, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

temía is recorded at frequency rank #13,364, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪eˈmia]. temo is at rank #5,898, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪emo].

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 19262, this pair ranks #264,505 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of temía vs temo

Shared letters: emt. Private to "temía": . Private to "temo": o.

"temía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "temo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • temoetmo · temmo · teom · tmeo · ttemo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "temía" and "temo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([t̪eˈmia] versus [ˈt̪emo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "temía" vs "temo" - which ranks higher?
"temo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,898 in our Spanish list, against #13,364 for "temía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "temía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "temo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #264,505 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "temía" and "temo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tejida vs temía". 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 #264,505 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