tivessevstivessemConfusable pair

Which to use

“tivesse” and “tivessem” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#926
“tivesse” frequency rank
#4,434
“tivessem” frequency rank
5360
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tivesse tivessem
Definition primeira pessoa do singular do pretérito imperfeito do conjuntivo do verbo ter terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito imperfeito do modo subjuntivo do verbo ter

Letter map: tivesse vs tivessem

Shared letters muted; letters that set tivesse and tivessem apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. tivesse runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against tivessem's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
tivesse
8 ch
tivessem

Spelling & dictionary notes on tivesse vs tivessem

tivesse and tivessem are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tivesse” sits inside “tivessem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5360, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tivesse is recorded at frequency rank #926, classified as averb. tivessem is at rank #4,434, tagged as averb.

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 5360, this pair ranks #69,274 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tivesse vs tivessem

Shared letters: eistv. Private to "tivesse": -. Private to "tivessem": m.

"tivesse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "tivessem" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tivesse ← itvesse · tievsse · tivese · tiveses · tivsese · tivvesse · ttivesse · tviesse
  • tivessem ← itvessem · tievssem · tivesem · tivesesm · tivessemm · tivessme · tivsesem · tivvessem

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tivesse" and "tivessem" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tivesse” sits inside “tivessem”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "tivesse" vs "tivessem" - which ranks higher?
"tivesse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #926 in our Portuguese list, against #4,434 for "tivessem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tivesse" and "tivessem".

  • Full dictionary entry for "tivesse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tivessem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,274 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tivesse" and "tivessem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tivessem vs tivesses". 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 #69,274 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