Which to use
“ter” is a verb and “they” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #60
- “ter” frequency rank
- #11,171
- “they” frequency rank
- 11231
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ter | they |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | acompanhado de verbo no particípio regular, indica ação passada | pronome pessoal de terceira pessoa plural referente a um grupo de pessoas sem especificação de gênero; eles ou elas |
Letter map: ter vs they
Shared letters muted; letters that set ter and they apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: ter vs they
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ter is averb and theyapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ter is recorded at frequency rank #60, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈteɹ/. they is at rank #11,171, tagged as apron.
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 11231, this pair ranks #61,667 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ter vs they
Shared letters: et. Private to "ter": r. Private to "they": hy.
"ter" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "they" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- they ← htey · tehy · theyy · thhey · thye · tthey
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ter" and "they" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ter" or "they"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ter" and "they".
- Full dictionary entry for "ter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "they" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,667 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ter" and "they" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teem vs they". 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 #61,667 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.