Which to use
“tem” is a verb and “ten” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33
- “tem” frequency rank
- #10,094
- “ten” frequency rank
- 10127
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tem | ten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo ter | este, esta, esse, essa |
Letter map: tem vs ten
Shared letters muted; letters that set tem and ten apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - tem and ten
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tem is averb and tenapronoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - m in “tem” becomes n in “ten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10127, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tem is recorded at frequency rank #33, classified as averb. ten is at rank #10,094, tagged as apron.
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 10127, this pair ranks #63,091 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tem vs ten
Shared letters: et. Private to "tem": m. Private to "ten": n.
"tem" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "ten" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tem" and "ten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "tem" or "ten"?
What to do next
Pair "tem" vs "ten" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "tem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,091 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tem" and "ten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ten vs tengo". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #63,091 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.