Which to use
“tenaz” is an adjective and “tesão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,239
- “tenaz” frequency rank
- #7,225
- “tesão” frequency rank
- 49464
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tenaz | tesão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | muito aderente | rijeza |
Where the eye mixes tenaz and tesão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tenaz (CVCVC) and tesão (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between tenaz and tesão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tenaz is /tɨ.ˈnaʃ/ while tesão is /tɨ.ˈzɐ̃w̃/. 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 49464, 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/. tesão is at rank #7,225, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɨ.ˈzɐ̃w̃/.
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 49464, this pair ranks #15,542 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tenaz vs tesão
Shared letters: et. Private to "tenaz": anz. Private to "tesão": osã.
"tenaz" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "tesão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tenaz ← etnaz · teanz · tenazz · tennaz · tenza · tneaz · ttenaz
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tenaz" for "tesão" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tenaz" or "tesão"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tenaz" and "tesão" 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 "tesão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,542 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tenaz" and "tesão" 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 #15,542 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.