tendervstenedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,098
“tender” frequency rank
#26,640
“tened” frequency rank
44738
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tender tened
Definition Desplegar o extender aumentando la longitud o las dimensiones. Segunda persona del plural (vosotros, vosotras) del imperativo afirmativo de tener.

Where the eye mixes tender and tened

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tender runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against tened's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
tender
5 ch
tened

Visual trap between tender and tened

A purely visual mix-up. tender ([t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]) and tened ([t̪eˈneð̞]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44738, 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]. tened is at rank #26,640, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪eˈneð̞].

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 44738, this pair ranks #135,394 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tender vs tened

Shared letters: dent. Private to "tender": r. Private to "tened": -.

"tender" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tened" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tender ← etnder · tedner · tendder · tenderr · tendre · tenedr · tennder · tneder
  • tened ← etned · teend · tende · tenedd · tenned · tneed · ttened

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tender" for "tened" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ] versus [t̪eˈneð̞]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tender" or "tened"?
"tender" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,098 in our Spanish list, against #26,640 for "tened". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "tender" and "tened" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tened" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #135,394 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tender" and "tened" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teje vs tened". 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 #135,394 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