tempovstomoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#84
“tempo” frequency rank
#6,352
“tomo” frequency rank
6436
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tempo tomo
Definition continuum linear não-espacial no qual os eventos se sucedem irreversivelmente volume de obra impressa ou manuscrita

Where the eye mixes tempo and tomo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
tempo
4 ch
tomo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tempo (/ˈtẽm.pʊ/) and tomo (/ˈto.mu/) 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 6436, 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/. tomo is at rank #6,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈto.mu/.

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 6436, this pair ranks #67,998 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tempo vs tomo

Shared letters: mot. Private to "tempo": ep. Private to "tomo": -.

"tempo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tomo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tempoetmpo · temmpo · temop · temppo · tepmo · tmepo · ttempo
  • tomootmo · tmoo · tommo · toom · ttomo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tempo" and "tomo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtẽm.pʊ/ versus /ˈto.mu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tempo" or "tomo"?
"tempo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #84 in our Portuguese list, against #6,352 for "tomo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list