temosvstomouConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#292
“temos” frequency rank
#2,120
“tomou” frequency rank
2412
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature temos tomou
Definition primeira pessoa do plural do presente do indicativo do verbo ter terceira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo tomar

Letter map: temos vs tomou

Shared letters muted; letters that set temos and tomou apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
temos
5 ch
tomou

Spelling & dictionary notes on temos vs tomou

temos and tomou are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2412, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

temos is recorded at frequency rank #292, classified as averb. tomou is at rank #2,120, tagged as averb, pronounced /to.ˈmow/, /to.ˈmo/.

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 2412, this pair ranks #72,985 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of temos vs tomou

Shared letters: mot. Private to "temos": es. Private to "tomou": u.

"temos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tomou" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • temosetmos · temmos · temoss · temso · teoms · tmeos · ttemos
  • tomouotmou · tmoou · tommou · tomuo · toomu · ttomou

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "temos" for "tomou" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "temos" or "tomou" show up more?
"temos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #292 in our Portuguese list, against #2,120 for "tomou". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "temos" and "tomou". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "temos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tomou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,985 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "temos" and "tomou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teco vs temos". 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 #72,985 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