tenía

[t̪eˈnia]

/[t̪eˈnia]/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“tenía” has 6 generated spelling variants in the Spanish index at frequency #245. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#245
frequency rank, Spanish
3,005
“T” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de tener o de tenerse.

Corpus desk

Index ES-tenia · tenía · Spanish

tenía · rank #245 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #245
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,005
  • PHOTO-FINISH pueblo

Nearest frequency peer: pueblo (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pares de rango junto al imán ortográfico “tenía”

Misma franja de rareza: útil si un typo cae en un lema vecino

corpus weight

What this shows “tenía” está entre estos pares FrequencyWords; la profundidad de typo se mide aparte en el gráfico de distancia de edición.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

tenía vs tía
60% similar
tenía vs tina
60% similar
tenía vs toni
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for tenía
PropertyValue
Headwordtenía
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechVerb
IPA[t̪eˈnia]
Letters5
Frequency rank#245
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frecuencia del imán ortográfico “tenía”

Esta escala corre desde el núcleo del español cotidiano (izquierda) hasta el rastro de formas rara vez usadas (derecha).teníacae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

El eje es logarítmico: cada tick marca unas diez veces menos frecuencia. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “pueblo” (#244), “esos” (#246), “misma” (#243). Entre 3,005 lemas con “T”, “tenía” va en #245. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around tenía (IPA [t̪eˈnia]), averb. Corpus frequency is #245 among 3,005 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for tenía, with forms such as "etnía", "tenaí", and "tennía". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tía", "tina", "toni", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Spanish form is tenía, spelled T-E-N-Í-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de tener o de tenerse.
  2. 2
    Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de tener o de tenerse.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • etnía
  • tenaí
  • tennía
  • teína
  • tneía
  • ttenía

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tenía - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

etnía2tenaí2tennía1teína2tneía2ttenía1
Edit distance from "tenía"

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

How do you spell "tenía"?
"tenía" is spelled T-E-N-Í-A. The IPA pronunciation is [t̪eˈnia].
What does "tenía" mean?
As a verb, "tenía" means: Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de tener o de tenerse.
What words are commonly confused with "tenía"?
"tenía" is commonly confused with "tía", "tina", "toni". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "tenía"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tenía" is [t̪eˈnia]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tenía" come from?
"tenía" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tenía", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

final#247misma#243punto#251saber#257

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

buen6 variantsguerra6 variantscasi6 variantspuedo6 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list