trevstremeConfusable pair

Quick tell: tre is a num, treme is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tre” is a num and “treme” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,981
“tre” frequency rank
#25,852
“treme” frequency rank
40833
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tre treme
Definition três terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo tremer

Where the eye mixes tre and treme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
tre
5 ch
treme

Visual trap between tre and treme

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tre is /tre/ while treme is /ˈtɾe.mi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “tre” sits inside “treme”, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tre is recorded at frequency rank #14,981, classified as anum, pronounced /tre/. treme is at rank #25,852, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈtɾe.mi/.

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 40833, this pair ranks #25,207 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tre vs treme

Shared letters: ert. Private to "tre": -. Private to "treme": m.

"tre" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "treme" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tremerteme · terme · treem · tremme · trmee · trreme · ttreme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tre" for "treme" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tre" is a num and "treme" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tre" or "treme"?
"tre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,981 in our Portuguese list, against #25,852 for "treme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "tre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "treme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,207 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tre" and "treme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trema vs treme". 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 #25,207 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