temevsteveConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#10,093
“teme” frequency rank
#293
“teve” frequency rank
10386
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature teme teve
Definition anta; tapir, Tapirus terrestris terceira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do verbo ter

Letter map: teme vs teve

Shared letters muted; letters that set teme and teve apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
teme
4 ch
teve

Grammar separator: teme vs teve

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: teme is anoun and teveaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - m in “teme” becomes v in “teve”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10386, 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/. teve is at rank #293, 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 10386, this pair ranks #62,737 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of teme vs teve

Shared letters: et. Private to "teme": m. Private to "teve": v.

"teme" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "teve" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • temeetme · temme · tmee · tteme
  • teveetve · teev · tevve · tteve · tvee

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "teme" and "teve" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "teme" is a noun and "teve" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "teme" vs "teve" - which ranks higher?
"teve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #293 in our Portuguese list, against #10,093 for "teme". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "teme" vs "teve" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "teme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "teve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,737 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "teme" and "teve" 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 #62,737 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