tenvstenazConfusable pair

Quick tell: ten is a pronoun, tenaz is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ten” is a pronoun and “tenaz” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,094
“ten” frequency rank
#42,239
“tenaz” frequency rank
52333
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ten tenaz
Definition este, esta, esse, essa muito aderente

Letter map: ten vs tenaz

Shared letters muted; letters that set ten and tenaz apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. ten runs 3 letters (CVC) against tenaz's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ten
5 ch
tenaz

Grammar separator: ten vs tenaz

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ten is apronoun and tenazanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ten” sits inside “tenaz”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52333, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ten is recorded at frequency rank #10,094, classified as apron. tenaz is at rank #42,239, tagged as anadj, pronounced /tɨ.ˈnaʃ/.

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 52333, this pair ranks #12,838 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ten vs tenaz

Shared letters: ent. Private to "ten": -. Private to "tenaz": az.

"ten" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tenaz" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tenaz ← etnaz · teanz · tenazz · tennaz · tenza · tneaz · ttenaz

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ten" and "tenaz" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ten" is a pronoun and "tenaz" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ten" or "tenaz"?
"ten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,094 in our Portuguese list, against #42,239 for "tenaz". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "ten" and "tenaz". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tenaz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,838 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ten" and "tenaz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tenaz vs tengo". 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 #12,838 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