temavstempoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“tema” and “tempo” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#840
“tema” frequency rank
#84
“tempo” frequency rank
924
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tema tempo
Definition assunto continuum linear não-espacial no qual os eventos se sucedem irreversivelmente

Where the eye mixes tema and tempo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
tema
5 ch
tempo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tema (/ˈte.mɐ/) and tempo (/ˈtẽm.pʊ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 924, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tema is recorded at frequency rank #840, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈte.mɐ/. tempo is at rank #84, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtẽm.pʊ/.

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 924, this pair ranks #74,705 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tema vs tempo

Shared letters: emt. Private to "tema": a. Private to "tempo": op.

"tema" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tempo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • temaetma · team · temma · tmea · ttema
  • tempoetmpo · temmpo · temop · temppo · tepmo · tmepo · ttempo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tema" and "tempo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈte.mɐ/ versus /ˈtẽm.pʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tema" or "tempo"?
"tempo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #84 in our Portuguese list, against #840 for "tema". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list