Which to use
“teem” is a verb and “tom” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,238
- “teem” frequency rank
- #1,262
- “tom” frequency rank
- 43500
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | teem | tom |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fervilhar | qualquer som, no que se refere à sua amplitude, fonte, potência, etc.: |
Where the eye mixes teem and tom
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: teem vs tom
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: teem is /tiːm/ while tom is /ˈtõ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
teem is recorded at frequency rank #42,238, classified as averb, pronounced /tiːm/. tom is at rank #1,262, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtõ/.
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 43500, this pair ranks #22,120 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of teem vs tom
Shared letters: mt. Private to "teem": e. Private to "tom": o.
"teem" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- teem ← etem · teemm · tteem
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "teem" and "tom" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "teem" or "tom" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "teem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,120 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "teem" and "tom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teem vs trema". 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 #22,120 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.