telhavstinhaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#24,173
“telha” frequency rank
#159
“tinha” frequency rank
24332
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature telha tinha
Definition peça de barro cozido ou de outro material (pedra, cimento-amianto, metal, vidro, plástico, madeira etc.), usado na cobertura de casas e outros edifícios primeira pessoa do singular do pretérito imperfeito do indicativo do verbo ter

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
telha
5 ch
tinha

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: telha is anoun and tinhaaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

telha is recorded at frequency rank #24,173, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɐj.ʎɐ/. tinha is at rank #159, tagged as averb.

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 24332, this pair ranks #45,307 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of telha vs tinha

Shared letters: aht. Private to "telha": el. Private to "tinha": in.

"telha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tinha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • telhaetlha · tehla · telah · telhha · tellha · tleha · ttelha
  • tinhaitnha · tihna · tinah · tinhha · tinnha · tniha · ttinha

Frequency comparison

telha#24,173
tinha#159

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "telha" and "tinha" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "telha" is a noun and "tinha" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "telha" or "tinha"?
"tinha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #159 in our Portuguese list, against #24,173 for "telha". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering telha vs tinha

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “telha”; for a verb, it's “tinha”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “telha” 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