tãovsTEAWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tão is a adverb, TEA is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tão” is an adverb and “TEA” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#119
“tão” frequency rank
#19,006
“TEA” frequency rank
19125
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tão TEA
Definition tanto, com tal intensidade transtorno do espectro autista

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tão and TEA apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
tão
3 ch
TEA

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tão is anadverb and TEAanabbrev. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19125, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tão is recorded at frequency rank #119, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈtɐ̃w̃/. TEA is at rank #19,006, tagged as anabbrev.

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 19125, this pair ranks #51,695 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tão vs TEA

Shared letters: t. Private to "tão": . Private to "TEA": ae.

"tão" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "TEA" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

tão#119
TEA#19,006

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tão" and "TEA" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tão" is an adverb and "TEA" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tão" or "TEA"?
"tão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #119 in our Portuguese list, against #19,006 for "TEA". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering tão vs TEA

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “tão”; for an abbrev, it's “TEA”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tão” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list