tempovstopoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#84
“tempo” frequency rank
#2,450
“topo” frequency rank
2534
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tempo topo
Definition continuum linear não-espacial no qual os eventos se sucedem irreversivelmente ápice, cume, ponto mais elevado

Where the eye mixes tempo and topo

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

5 ch
tempo
4 ch
topo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tempo (/ˈtẽm.pʊ/) and topo (/ˈto.pu/) 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 2534, 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/. topo is at rank #2,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈto.pu/.

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 2534, this pair ranks #72,824 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tempo vs topo

Shared letters: opt. Private to "tempo": em. Private to "topo": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tempoetmpo · temmpo · temop · temppo · tepmo · tmepo · ttempo
  • topootpo · toop · toppo · tpoo · ttopo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tempo" and "topo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtẽm.pʊ/ versus /ˈto.pu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tempo" or "topo"?
"tempo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #84 in our Portuguese list, against #2,450 for "topo". 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