Which to use
“teme” and “temor” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,093
- “teme” frequency rank
- #12,349
- “temor” frequency rank
- 22442
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | teme | temor |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | anta; tapir, Tapirus terrestris | medo, receio, sensação resultante da ideia de perigo |
Where the eye mixes teme and temor
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: teme vs temor
A purely visual mix-up. teme (/ˈtɛ.mɛ/) and temor (\te.'mo*\) 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 22442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
teme is recorded at frequency rank #10,093, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɛ.mɛ/. temor is at rank #12,349, tagged as anoun, pronounced \te.'mo*\.
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 22442, this pair ranks #47,596 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of teme vs temor
Shared letters: emt. Private to "teme": -. Private to "temor": or.
"teme" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "temor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "teme" and "temor" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "teme" or "temor"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "teme" and "temor" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "teme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "temor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,596 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "teme" and "temor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teme 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 #47,596 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.