ter vs tom, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#60
“ter” frequency rank: #1,262
“tom” frequency rank: 1322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ter	tom
Definition	acompanhado de verbo no particípio regular, indica ação passada	qualquer som, no que se refere à sua amplitude, fonte, potência, etc.:

Where the eye mixes ter and tom

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

3 ch

ter

3 ch

tom

Why the eye confuses ter with tom

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ter is /ˈteɹ/ while tom is /ˈtõ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ter is recorded at frequency rank #60, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈteɹ/. tom is at rank #1,262, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtõ/.

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 1322, this pair ranks #74,265 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ter vs tom

Shared letters: t. Private to "ter": er. Private to "tom": mo.

"ter" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ter" and "tom" mean the same thing in a sentence?

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

Frequency check: "ter" vs "tom" - which ranks higher?

"ter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #60 in our Portuguese list, against #1,262 for "tom". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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 "tom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #74,265 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ter" and "tom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tom vs tosa". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #74,265 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.