tearvstemorWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,581
“tear” frequency rank
#12,349
“temor” frequency rank
43930
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tear temor
Definition aparelho ou máquina de tecer medo, receio, sensação resultante da ideia de perigo

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tear and temor apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
tear
5 ch
temor

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tear (/ˈtjaɾ/) and temor (\te.'mo*\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43930, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tear is recorded at frequency rank #31,581, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtjaɾ/. temor is at rank #12,349, tagged as anoun, pronounced \te.'mo*\.

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 43930, this pair ranks #21,639 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tear vs temor

Shared letters: ert. Private to "tear": a. Private to "temor": mo.

"tear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "temor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tearetar · taer · tearr · ttear
  • temoretmor · temmor · temorr · temro · teomr · tmeor · ttemor

Frequency comparison

tear#31,581
temor#12,349

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tear" and "temor" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtjaɾ/ versus \te.'mo*\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tear" or "temor"?
"temor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,349 in our Portuguese list, against #31,581 for "tear". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tear vs temor

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tear” 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