Which to use
“ontem” is an adverb and “outrem” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #525
- “ontem” frequency rank
- #30,659
- “outrem” frequency rank
- 31184
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ontem | outrem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | no dia anterior ao de hoje | outra pessoa; outras pessoas |
Where the eye mixes ontem and outrem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ontem runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against outrem's 6 (VVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between ontem and outrem
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ontem is /ˈõ.tɐ̃j̃/ while outrem is /ˈow.tɾɐ̃j̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ontem is recorded at frequency rank #525, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈõ.tɐ̃j̃/. outrem is at rank #30,659, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈow.tɾɐ̃j̃/.
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 31184, this pair ranks #36,983 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ontem vs outrem
Shared letters: emot. Private to "ontem": n. Private to "outrem": ru.
"ontem" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "outrem" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ontem" for "outrem" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ontem" or "outrem" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ontem" and "outrem" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ontem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "outrem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,983 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ontem" and "outrem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "outrem vs outro". 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 #36,983 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.