Which to use
“tenaz” is an adjective and “tênis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,239
- “tenaz” frequency rank
- #3,294
- “tênis” frequency rank
- 45533
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tenaz | tênis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | muito aderente | desporto individual (ou de duplas) no qual os jogadores enviam um ao outro uma pequena bola, com ajuda de raquetes por sobre uma rede que divide a quadra de jogo |
Where the eye mixes tenaz and tênis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tenaz and tênis follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: tenaz vs tênis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tenaz is /tɨ.ˈnaʃ/ while tênis is /ˈte.nis/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tenaz is recorded at frequency rank #42,239, classified as anadj, pronounced /tɨ.ˈnaʃ/. tênis is at rank #3,294, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈte.nis/.
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 45533, this pair ranks #19,851 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tenaz vs tênis
Shared letters: nt. Private to "tenaz": aez. Private to "tênis": isê.
"tenaz" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "tênis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tenaz ← etnaz · teanz · tenazz · tennaz · tenza · tneaz · ttenaz
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tenaz" for "tênis" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tenaz" or "tênis"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "tenaz" and "tênis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tenaz" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tênis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,851 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tenaz" and "tênis" 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 #19,851 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.