ta vs tam, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ta” is a conjunction and “tam” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,113
“ta” frequency rank: #12,345
“tam” frequency rank: 16458
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ta	tam
Definition	e:	lá, aí, ali, acolá

Letter map: ta vs tam

Shared letters muted; letters that set ta and tam apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

2 ch

3 ch

tam

Role in the sentence - ta and tam

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ta is aconjunction and tamanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ta” sits inside “tam”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ta is recorded at frequency rank #4,113, classified as aconj. tam is at rank #12,345, tagged as anadv.

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 16458, this pair ranks #55,070 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ta vs tam

Shared letters: at. Private to "ta": -. Private to "tam": m.

"ta" · 2 letters · shape CV · "tam" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ta" for "tam" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ta" is a conjunction and "tam" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "ta" or "tam"?

"ta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,113 in our Portuguese list, against #12,345 for "tam". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "ta" and "tam". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "ta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "tam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #55,070 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ta" and "tam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tam vs tampo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #55,070 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.