teresavstrêsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: teresa is a noun, três is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“teresa” is a noun and “três” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,091
“teresa” frequency rank
#167
“três” frequency rank
7258
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature teresa três
Definition no jargão das prisões, corda feita com pedaços de tecido, como lençóis ou toalhas, usada para escalar e/ou descer grandes alturas, como os muros ou paredes das celas número equivalente a dois mais um; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha dois elementos e outro elemento distinto; representado pelo símbolo 3 (algarismos arábicos) ou III (algarismos romanos)

Letter map: teresa vs três

Shared letters muted; letters that set teresa and três apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. teresa runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against três's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
teresa
4 ch
três

Role in the sentence - teresa and três

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: teresa is anoun and trêsanum. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7258, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

teresa is recorded at frequency rank #7,091, classified as anoun. três is at rank #167, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈtɾeʃ/.

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 7258, this pair ranks #66,920 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of teresa vs três

Shared letters: rst. Private to "teresa": ae. Private to "três": ê.

"teresa" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "três" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • teresa ← etresa · teersa · tereas · teressa · terresa · tersea · treesa · tteresa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "teresa" for "três" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "teresa" is a noun and "três" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "teresa" or "três"?
"três" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #167 in our Portuguese list, against #7,091 for "teresa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "teresa" vs "três" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "teresa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "três" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,920 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "teresa" and "três" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teresa vs trema". 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 #66,920 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list