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PlainSpell

tense

/tɛns/noun, verb, adjective

tense is spelled T-E-N-S-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tense means “The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tense is tenses.

How many letters and syllables are in tense?

Letters5: T-E-N-S-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing8.9 times per million words; the 7,672nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is tense?

Tense appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce tense?

  • /tɛns/

Tense has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-tense.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with tense?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tense.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: teens, steen, sente, senet.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of tense

  • tenses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • tensing participle, present
  • tensed participle, past
  • tenser comparative
  • tensest superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does tense mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.

    Dyirbal verbs are not inflected for tense.

  2. 2

    An inflected form of a verb that indicates tense.

    English only has a past tense and a non-past tense; it has no future tense.

  3. 3

    proscribedA grammatical aspect.

  4. 4

    proscribedA verb form or construction indicating a combination of tense, aspect, and mood.

    The "simple present" tense in English can have several meanings.

verb

  1. 1

    To apply a tense to.

    tensing a verb

  2. 2

    To make tense.

  3. 3

    To become tense.

adjective

  1. 1

    Showing signs of stress or strain; not relaxed.

    You need to relax, all this overtime and stress is making you tense.

  2. 2

    Characterized by strain (on the nerves, emotions, etc). (Compare charged.)

  3. 3

    Pulled taut, without any slack.

  4. 4

    Produced with relative constriction of the vocal tract.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate tense?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of tense: TAM, TMA.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Tense in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtemps, temps verbal (verb forms distinguishing time), tendu (showing stress or strain), tendre (make tense), se tendre (become tense)
GermanZeit, Tempus (verb forms distinguishing time), gespannt, angespannt, verkrampft (showing stress or strain), straff (pulled taut)
Portuguesetempo (verb forms distinguishing time), tenso (showing stress or strain), tensionar (make tense), estendido (pulled taut)
Spanishtiempo (verb forms distinguishing time), tenso (showing stress or strain), tensar (make tense), tensarse (become tense), tiesto (pulled taut)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does tense come from?

From Middle English tens, from Old French tens (modern French temps), from Latin tempus. Doublet of tempo and tempus.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after tense