Which to use
“tendía” and “tendió” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,484
- “tendía” frequency rank
- #31,137
- “tendió” frequency rank
- 70621
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tendía | tendió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de tender o de tenderse. | 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 tendía and tendió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tendía and tendió follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses tendía with tendió
A purely visual mix-up. tendía ([t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪ia]) 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 70621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tendía is recorded at frequency rank #39,484, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪ia]. 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 70621, this pair ranks #29,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tendía vs tendió
Shared letters: dent. Private to "tendía": aí. Private to "tendió": ió.
"tendía" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "tendió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tendía" and "tendió" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "tendía" or "tendió"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tendía" and "tendió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tendía" 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 #29,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tendía" and "tendió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tendía vs tendían". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #29,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.