tendavstengoConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#13,400
“tenda” frequency rank
#46,588
“tengo” frequency rank
59988
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tenda tengo
Definition abrigo facilmente montado ou desmontado primeira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo tener

Letter map: tenda vs tengo

Shared letters muted; letters that set tenda and tengo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. tenda and tengo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
tenda
5 ch
tengo

Grammar separator: tenda vs tengo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tenda is anoun and tengoaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tenda is recorded at frequency rank #13,400, classified as anoun. tengo is at rank #46,588, 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 59988, this pair ranks #7,899 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tenda vs tengo

Shared letters: ent. Private to "tenda": ad. Private to "tengo": go.

"tenda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tengo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tenda ← etnda · tedna · tenad · tendda · tennda · tneda · ttenda
  • tengo ← etngo · tegno · tenggo · tenngo · tenog · tnego · ttengo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tenda" and "tengo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tenda" is a noun and "tengo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tenda" or "tengo" show up more?
"tenda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,400 in our Portuguese list, against #46,588 for "tengo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tenda" and "tengo".

  • Full dictionary entry for "tenda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tengo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,899 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tenda" and "tengo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teco 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 #7,899 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