Which to use
“tem” is a verb and “teu” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33
- “tem” frequency rank
- #592
- “teu” frequency rank
- 625
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tem | teu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo ter | de posse da segunda pessoa do singular (tu) |
Letter map: tem vs teu
Shared letters muted; letters that set tem and teu apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for tem / teu
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tem is averb and teuapronoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - m in “tem” becomes u in “teu”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tem is recorded at frequency rank #33, classified as averb. teu is at rank #592, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈtew/.
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 625, this pair ranks #75,045 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tem vs teu
Shared letters: et. Private to "tem": m. Private to "teu": u.
"tem" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "teu" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tem" and "teu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tem" or "teu" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "tem" vs "teu" 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 "teu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #75,045 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tem" and "teu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tem vs trema". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #75,045 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.