tempo vs terno, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“tempo” is a noun and “terno” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#84
“tempo” frequency rank: #11,363
“terno” frequency rank: 11447
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	tempo	terno
Definition	continuum linear não-espacial no qual os eventos se sucedem irreversivelmente	tenro

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tempo and terno apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

tempo

5 ch

terno

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tempo is /ˈtẽm.pʊ/ while terno is /ˈtɛɾ.nu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tempo is recorded at frequency rank #84, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtẽm.pʊ/. terno is at rank #11,363, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈtɛɾ.nu/.

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 11447, this pair ranks #61,381 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tempo vs terno

Shared letters: eot. Private to "tempo": mp. Private to "terno": nr.

"tempo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "terno" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

tempo ← etmpo · temmpo · temop · temppo · tepmo · tmepo · ttempo
terno ← etrno · tenro · ternno · teron · terrno · treno · tterno

Frequency comparison

tempo#84

terno#11,363

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tempo" and "terno" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tempo" is a noun and "terno" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "tempo" or "terno"?

"tempo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #84 in our Portuguese list, against #11,363 for "terno". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering tempo vs terno

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “tempo”; for an adjective, it's “terno”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tempo” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable