tienvstiendeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,874
“tien” frequency rank
#6,243
“tiende” frequency rank
40117
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tien tiende
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de tenel. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de tender o de tenderse.

Where the eye mixes tien and tiende

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

4 ch
tien
6 ch
tiende

Look-alike desk: tien vs tiende

A purely visual mix-up. tien (/ˈtjen/) and tiende ([ˈt̪jẽn̪d̪e]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “tien” sits inside “tiende”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tien is recorded at frequency rank #33,874, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈtjen/. tiende is at rank #6,243, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪jẽn̪d̪e].

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 40117, this pair ranks #160,801 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tien vs tiende

Shared letters: eint. Private to "tien": -. Private to "tiende": d.

"tien" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "tiende" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tien ← iten · tein · tienn · tine · ttien
  • tiende ← itende · teinde · tiedne · tiendde · tiened · tiennde · tinede · ttiende

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tien" and "tiende" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtjen/ versus [ˈt̪jẽn̪d̪e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "tien" or "tiende" show up more?
"tiende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,243 in our Spanish list, against #33,874 for "tien". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tien" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tiende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,801 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tien" and "tiende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tien vs till". 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 #160,801 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