talavstemaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“tala” and “tema” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,251
“tala” frequency rank
#840
“tema” frequency rank
37091
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tala tema
Definition a moeda de Samoa assunto

Where the eye mixes tala and tema

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
tala
4 ch
tema

Look-alike desk: tala vs tema

A purely visual mix-up. tala (/ˈta.lɐ/) and tema (/ˈte.mɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tala is recorded at frequency rank #36,251, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈta.lɐ/. tema is at rank #840, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈte.mɐ/.

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 37091, this pair ranks #29,592 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tala vs tema

Shared letters: at. Private to "tala": l. Private to "tema": em.

"tala" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tema" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • talataal · talla · tlaa · ttala
  • temaetma · team · temma · tmea · ttema

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tala" and "tema" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈta.lɐ/ versus /ˈte.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tala" or "tema"?
"tema" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #840 in our Portuguese list, against #36,251 for "tala". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tema" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,592 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tala" and "tema" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tala vs tosa". 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 #29,592 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list