tear
/ˈtjaɾ/
The verdict
“tear” is a moderately-common Portuguese word, ranked #31,581 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a noun.
- #31,581
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - aparelho ou máquina de tecer
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tear |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtjaɾ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #31,581 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tear” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for tear is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtjaɾ/. Corpus data places it at rank #31,581 in overall Portuguese word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "aparelho ou máquina de tecer".
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for tear, with forms such as "etar", "taer", and "tearr". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tem", "ter", "teu", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Portuguese form is tear, spelled T-E-A-R.
Definition
- 1aparelho ou máquina de tecer
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: etar,taer,tearr,ttear
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tear - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “tear”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is T-E-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtjaɾ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “tem” - see the side-by-side comparison. tear vs tem
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.