Which to use
“tendió” and “tenía” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,137
- “tendió” frequency rank
- #245
- “tenía” frequency rank
- 31382
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tendió | tenía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de tender o de tenderse. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de tener o de tenerse. |
Where the eye mixes tendió and tenía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tendió runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against tenía's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses tendió with tenía
A purely visual mix-up. tendió ([t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo]) and tenía ([t̪eˈnia]) 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 31382, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tendió is recorded at frequency rank #31,137, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪ẽn̪ˈd̪jo]. tenía is at rank #245, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪eˈnia].
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 31382, this pair ranks #207,343 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tendió vs tenía
Shared letters: ent. Private to "tendió": dió. Private to "tenía": aí.
"tendió" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "tenía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tendió" and "tenía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "tendió" or "tenía" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tendió" and "tenía" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tendió" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tenía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #207,343 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tendió" and "tenía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tendían vs tendió". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #207,343 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.