temavstomoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#840
“tema” frequency rank
#6,352
“tomo” frequency rank
7192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tema tomo
Definition assunto volume de obra impressa ou manuscrita

Where the eye mixes tema and tomo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
tema
4 ch
tomo

Look-alike desk: tema vs tomo

A purely visual mix-up. tema (/ˈte.mɐ/) and tomo (/ˈto.mu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7192, 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/. tomo is at rank #6,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈto.mu/.

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 7192, this pair ranks #67,004 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tema vs tomo

Shared letters: mt. Private to "tema": ae. Private to "tomo": o.

"tema" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tomo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • temaetma · team · temma · tmea · ttema
  • tomootmo · tmoo · tommo · toom · ttomo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tema" for "tomo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈte.mɐ/ versus /ˈto.mu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tema" vs "tomo" - which ranks higher?
"tema" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #840 in our Portuguese list, against #6,352 for "tomo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "tema" and "tomo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tema" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tomo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,004 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tema" and "tomo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tomo vs tufo". 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 #67,004 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