temvstremaConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#33
“tem” frequency rank
#47,651
“trema” frequency rank
47684
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tem trema
Definition terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo ter sinal ortográfico (¨) usado em diversas línguas para alterar o som de uma vogal ou para assinalar a independência dessa vogal em relação a uma vogal anterior ou posterior, constituindo-se às vezes em uma vogal própria e distinta no alfabeto

Letter map: tem vs trema

Shared letters muted; letters that set tem and trema apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

3 ch
tem
5 ch
trema

Part-of-speech tell for tem / trema

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tem is averb and tremaanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47684, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tem is recorded at frequency rank #33, classified as averb. trema is at rank #47,651, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɾe.mɐ/.

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 47684, this pair ranks #17,549 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tem vs trema

Shared letters: emt. Private to "tem": -. Private to "trema": ar.

"tem" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "trema" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tremartema · terma · tream · tremma · trmea · trrema · ttrema

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tem" and "trema" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tem" is a verb and "trema" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tem" or "trema"?
"tem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33 in our Portuguese list, against #47,651 for "trema". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tem" and "trema".

  • Full dictionary entry for "tem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trema" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,549 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tem" and "trema" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trampa 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 #17,549 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