tontear
[t̪õn̪t̪eˈaɾ]
The verdict
“tontear” is an uncommon Spanish word, ranked #68,992 in Spanish word frequency and used as a verb.
- #68,992
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Hacer el tonto o tonterías, no aprovechar el tiempo.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tontear |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [t̪õn̪t̪eˈaɾ] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #68,992 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tontear” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for tontear is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [t̪õn̪t̪eˈaɾ]. Corpus data places it at rank #68,992 in overall Spanish word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for tontear, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable Spanish rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is tontear, spelled T-O-N-T-E-A-R.
Definition
- 1Hacer el tonto o tonterías, no aprovechar el tiempo.
- 2Entre dos personas, fase del cortejo o seducción en que empiezan a dejarse atraer el uno por el otro.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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 "tontear"?
What does "tontear" mean?
How do you pronounce "tontear"?
What language does "tontear" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “tontear”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is T-O-N-T-E-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [t̪õn̪t̪eˈaɾ] (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
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.