tenaza
[t̪eˈnasa]
The verdict
“tenaza” is uncommon Spanish (frequency #90,410 among 34,400 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,410
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 34,400
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Instrumento de metal, compuesto de dos brazos trabados por un clavillo o eje que permite abrirlos y volverlos a cerrar. Su uso es coger o sujetar fuertemente una cosa, o arrancarla o cortarla.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tenaza |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [t̪eˈnasa] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #90,410 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tenaza” sits in Spanish frequency
Rare enough to double-check
tenaza is uncommon Spanish at frequency #90,410 among 34,400 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [t̪eˈnasa]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for tenaza in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable Spanish patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is tenaza, spelled T-E-N-A-Z-A.
Definition
- 1Instrumento de metal, compuesto de dos brazos trabados por un clavillo o eje que permite abrirlos y volverlos a cerrar. Su uso es coger o sujetar fuertemente una cosa, o arrancarla o cortarla.
- 2Pinzas.
- 3Extremo libre de la viga de los antiguos molinos de aceite.
- 4Par de cartas con las cuales se hacen precisamente dos bazas en algunos juegos de naipes, esperando quien las tiene que venga el juego en la mano.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “tenaza”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is T-E-N-A-Z-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [t̪eˈnasa] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Other uncommon Spanish words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.