tecovstemeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#43,185
“teco” frequency rank
#10,093
“teme” frequency rank
53278
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature teco teme
Definition tiro de arma de fogo anta; tapir, Tapirus terrestris

Letter map: teco vs teme

Shared letters muted; letters that set teco and teme apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. teco and teme follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
teco
4 ch
teme

Corpus notes: teco and teme

teco and teme are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53278, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

teco is recorded at frequency rank #43,185, classified as anoun. teme is at rank #10,093, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɛ.mɛ/.

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 53278, this pair ranks #12,154 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of teco vs teme

Shared letters: et. Private to "teco": co. Private to "teme": m.

"teco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "teme" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • teco ← etco · tceo · tecco · teoc · tteco
  • teme ← etme · temme · tmee · tteme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "teco" for "teme" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "teco" vs "teme" - which ranks higher?
"teme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,093 in our Portuguese list, against #43,185 for "teco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "teco" and "teme". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "teco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "teme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,154 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "teco" and "teme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teco vs tufo". 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 #12,154 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