ter vs ti, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ter” is a verb and “ti” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#60
“ter” frequency rank: #779
“ti” frequency rank: 839
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ter	ti
Definition	acompanhado de verbo no particípio regular, indica ação passada	que diz respeito à tua pessoa

Where the eye mixes ter and ti

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

ter

2 ch

Visual trap between ter and ti

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ter is /ˈteɹ/ while ti is /ˈti/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ter is recorded at frequency rank #60, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈteɹ/. ti is at rank #779, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈti/.

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 839, this pair ranks #74,794 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ter vs ti

Shared letters: t. Private to "ter": er. Private to "ti": i.

"ter" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "ti" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ter" and "ti" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ter" is a verb and "ti" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ter" or "ti" show up more?

"ter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #60 in our Portuguese list, against #779 for "ti". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "ter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ti" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #74,794 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ter" and "ti" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ti vs tifo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #74,794 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.