tenedvstienesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#26,640
“tened” frequency rank
#272
“tienes” frequency rank
26912
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tened tienes
Definition Segunda persona del plural (vosotros, vosotras) del imperativo afirmativo de tener. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de tener o de tenerse.

Where the eye mixes tened and tienes

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

5 ch
tened
6 ch
tienes

Look-alike desk: tened vs tienes

A purely visual mix-up. tened ([t̪eˈneð̞]) and tienes ([ˈt̪jenes]) 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 26912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tened is recorded at frequency rank #26,640, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪eˈneð̞]. tienes is at rank #272, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪jenes].

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 26912, this pair ranks #229,346 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tened vs tienes

Shared letters: ent. Private to "tened": d. Private to "tienes": is.

"tened" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tienes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tened ← etned · teend · tende · tenedd · tenned · tneed · ttened
  • tienes ← itenes · teines · tieens · tieness · tiennes · tiense · tinees · ttienes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tened" for "tienes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([t̪eˈneð̞] versus [ˈt̪jenes]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tened" vs "tienes" - which ranks higher?
"tienes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #272 in our Spanish list, against #26,640 for "tened". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tened" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tienes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #229,346 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tened" and "tienes" 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 #229,346 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