temavstoméWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#840
“tema” frequency rank
#4,602
“tomé” frequency rank
5442
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tema tomé
Definition assunto primeira pessoa do singular no pretérito do indicativo do verbo tomar; tomei

Letter map: tema vs tomé

Shared letters muted; letters that set tema and tomé apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
tema
4 ch
tomé

Role in the sentence - tema and tomé

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tema is anoun and toméaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5442, 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/. tomé is at rank #4,602, 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 5442, this pair ranks #69,176 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tema vs tomé

Shared letters: mt. Private to "tema": ae. Private to "tomé": .

"tema" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tomé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • temaetma · team · temma · tmea · ttema

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tema" and "tomé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tema" is a noun and "tomé" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tema" vs "tomé" - which ranks higher?
"tema" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #840 in our Portuguese list, against #4,602 for "tomé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "tema" and "tomé". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tema" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tomé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,176 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tema" and "tomé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tomé vs tosa". 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 #69,176 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