telavstensTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,952
“tela” frequency rank
#2,447
“tens” frequency rank
4399
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tela tens
Definition tecido de lã, linho, seda, etc. segunda pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo ter

Letter map: tela vs tens

Shared letters muted; letters that set tela and tens apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
tela
4 ch
tens

Part-of-speech tell for tela / tens

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tela is anoun and tensaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4399, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tela is recorded at frequency rank #1,952, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɛ.lɐ/. tens is at rank #2,447, tagged as averb.

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 4399, this pair ranks #70,521 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tela vs tens

Shared letters: et. Private to "tela": al. Private to "tens": ns.

"tela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tens" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • telaetla · teal · tella · tlea · ttela
  • tensetns · tenns · tenss · tesn · tnes · ttens

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tela" for "tens" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tela" is a noun and "tens" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tela" or "tens"?
"tela" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,952 in our Portuguese list, against #2,447 for "tens". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "tela" vs "tens" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,521 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tela" and "tens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tela vs trema". 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 #70,521 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list