tamvstampoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: tam is a adverb, tampo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#12,345
“tam” frequency rank
#45,618
“tampo” frequency rank
57963
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tam tampo
Definition lá, aí, ali, acolá o mesmo que tampa; objeto que serve para tampar, vedar, tapar, etc

Letter map: tam vs tampo

Shared letters muted; letters that set tam and tampo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. tam runs 3 letters (CVC) against tampo's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
tam
5 ch
tampo

Grammar separator: tam vs tampo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tam is anadverb and tampoanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “tam” sits inside “tampo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57963, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tam is recorded at frequency rank #12,345, classified as anadv. tampo is at rank #45,618, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɐ̃.pu/.

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 57963, this pair ranks #9,015 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tam vs tampo

Shared letters: amt. Private to "tam": -. Private to "tampo": op.

"tam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tampo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tampo ← atmpo · tammpo · tamop · tamppo · tapmo · tmapo · ttampo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tam" and "tampo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tam" is an adverb and "tampo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tam" or "tampo"?
"tam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,345 in our Portuguese list, against #45,618 for "tampo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tam" and "tampo".

  • Full dictionary entry for "tam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tampo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,015 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tam" and "tampo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tampo vs trampa". 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 #9,015 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