tenazvstensConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#42,239
“tenaz” frequency rank
#2,447
“tens” frequency rank
44686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tenaz tens
Definition muito aderente segunda pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo ter

Letter map: tenaz vs tens

Shared letters muted; letters that set tenaz and tens apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. tenaz runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against tens's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
tenaz
4 ch
tens

Grammar separator: tenaz vs tens

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tenaz is anadjective and tensaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44686, 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/. 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 44686, this pair ranks #20,747 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tenaz vs tens

Shared letters: ent. Private to "tenaz": az. Private to "tens": s.

"tenaz" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tens" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tenaz ← etnaz · teanz · tenazz · tennaz · tenza · tneaz · ttenaz
  • tens ← etns · tenns · tenss · tesn · tnes · ttens

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tenaz" and "tens" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tenaz" is an adjective and "tens" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tenaz" or "tens" show up more?
"tens" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,447 in our Portuguese list, against #42,239 for "tenaz". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tenaz" 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 #20,747 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tenaz" and "tens" 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 #20,747 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