tendervstendióWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“tender” and “tendió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,098
“tender” frequency rank
#31,137
“tendió” frequency rank
49235
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tender tendió
Definition Desplegar o extender aumentando la longitud o las dimensiones. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de tender o de tenderse.

Where the eye mixes tender and tendió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tender (CVCCVC) and tendió (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
tender
6 ch
tendió

Why the eye confuses tender with tendió

A purely visual mix-up. tender ([t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]) and tendió ([t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49235, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tender is recorded at frequency rank #18,098, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]. tendió is at rank #31,137, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo].

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 49235, this pair ranks #109,972 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tender vs tendió

Shared letters: dent. Private to "tender": r. Private to "tendió": ió.

"tender" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tendió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tender ← etnder · tedner · tendder · tenderr · tendre · tenedr · tennder · tneder

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tender" and "tendió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ] versus [t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tender" vs "tendió" - which ranks higher?
"tender" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,098 in our Spanish list, against #31,137 for "tendió". 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 "tender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tendió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #109,972 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tender" and "tendió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tendían vs tendió". 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 #109,972 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list