thevstuaTell them apart

Quick tell: the is a article, tua is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“the” is an article and “tua” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#93
“the” frequency rank
#662
“tua” frequency rank
755
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature the tua
Definition o (artigo definido masculino singular) que tem você como objeto

Letter map: the vs tua

Shared letters muted; letters that set the and tua apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
the
3 ch
tua

Grammar separator: the vs tua

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: the is anarticle and tuaanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 755, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

the is recorded at frequency rank #93, classified as anarticle, pronounced /ðə/ (fraco, ou antes de consoante); /ðiː/ (enfático, ou antes de vogal). tua is at rank #662, tagged as anadj.

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 755, this pair ranks #74,902 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of the vs tua

Shared letters: t. Private to "the": eh. Private to "tua": au.

"the" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "tua" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "the" for "tua" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "the" is an article and "tua" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "the" vs "tua" - which ranks higher?
"the" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #93 in our Portuguese list, against #662 for "tua". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "the" and "tua".

  • Full dictionary entry for "the" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,902 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "the" and "tua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tua vs tufo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #74,902 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