teevsthaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tee is a noun, tha is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tee” is a noun and “tha” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,164
“tee” frequency rank
#38,931
“tha” frequency rank
70095
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tee tha
Definition chá presente do verbo bi (ser, estar); sou/estou, é/está, somos/estamos, são/estão

Where the eye mixes tee and tha

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. tee (CVV) and tha (CCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
tee
3 ch
tha

Why the eye confuses tee with tha

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tee is /ˈteː/ while tha is /ha/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70095, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tee is recorded at frequency rank #31,164, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈteː/. tha is at rank #38,931, tagged as averb, pronounced /ha/.

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 70095, this pair ranks #3,740 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tee vs tha

Shared letters: t. Private to "tee": e. Private to "tha": ah.

"tee" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "tha" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tee" for "tha" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tee" is a noun and "tha" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tee" or "tha" show up more?
"tee" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,164 in our Portuguese list, against #38,931 for "tha". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,740 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tee" and "tha" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tha vs tosa". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #3,740 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