Which to use
“take” is a verb and “te” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,341
- “take” frequency rank
- #59
- “te” frequency rank
- 7400
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | take | te |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | tomar (pegar, passar a estar sob posse) | a ti |
Where the eye mixes take and te
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses take with te
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: take is /teɪk/ while te is /tɨ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7400, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
take is recorded at frequency rank #7,341, classified as averb, pronounced /teɪk/. te is at rank #59, tagged as apron, pronounced /tɨ/.
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 7400, this pair ranks #66,737 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of take vs te
Shared letters: et. Private to "take": ak. Private to "te": -.
"take" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "te" · 2 letters · shape CV
Known mistypes of this pair
- take ← atke · taek · takke · tkae · ttake
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "take" for "te" ever safe?
Which is more common, "take" or "te"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "take" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "te" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,737 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "take" and "te" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "take vs tune". 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 #66,737 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.