Which to use
“tempo” and “tombo” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #84
- “tempo” frequency rank
- #19,867
- “tombo” frequency rank
- 19951
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tempo | tombo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | continuum linear não-espacial no qual os eventos se sucedem irreversivelmente | ato ou efeito de tombar; queda |
Where the eye mixes tempo and tombo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tempo and tombo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses tempo with tombo
A purely visual mix-up. tempo (/ˈtẽm.pʊ/) and tombo (/ˈtõ.bu/) 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 19951, 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/. tombo is at rank #19,867, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtõ.bu/.
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 19951, this pair ranks #50,658 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tempo vs tombo
Shared letters: mot. Private to "tempo": ep. Private to "tombo": b.
"tempo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tombo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tempo" and "tombo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tempo" or "tombo" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "tempo" and "tombo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tempo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tombo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,658 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tempo" and "tombo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tampo vs tombo". 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 #50,658 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.