tienvsturnWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tien is a verb, turn is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tien” is a verb and “turn” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,874
“tien” frequency rank
#33,885
“turn” frequency rank
67759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tien turn
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de tenel. En el póquer, cuarta carta que se coloca boca arriba después del flop.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tien and turn apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
tien
4 ch
turn

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tien is /ˈtjen/ while turn is [ˈt̪uɾn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67759, 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/. turn is at rank #33,885, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪uɾn].

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 67759, this pair ranks #36,289 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tien vs turn

Shared letters: nt. Private to "tien": ei. Private to "turn": ru.

"tien" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "turn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tieniten · tein · tienn · tine · ttien
  • turntrun · tturn · tunr · turnn · turrn · utrn

Frequency comparison

tien#33,874
turn#33,885

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tien" and "turn" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tien" is a verb and "turn" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tien" or "turn"?
"tien" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,874 in our Spanish list, against #33,885 for "turn". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tien vs turn

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “tien”; for a noun, it's “turn”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tien” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list