tendãovstendoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#32,401
“tendão” frequency rank
#591
“tendo” frequency rank
32992
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tendão tendo
Definition cordão fibroso, formado por tecido conjuntivo, graças ao qual os músculos se inserem nos ossos ou nos outros órgãos esticar, estender.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tendão and tendo apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
tendão
5 ch
tendo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tendão is /tẽ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/ while tendo is /ˈten.doː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tendão is recorded at frequency rank #32,401, classified as anoun, pronounced /tẽ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/. tendo is at rank #591, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈten.doː/.

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 32992, this pair ranks #34,644 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tendão vs tendo

Shared letters: denot. Private to "tendão": ã. Private to "tendo": -.

"tendão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "tendo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tendoetndo · tedno · tenddo · tenndo · tenod · tnedo · ttendo

Frequency comparison

tendão#32,401
tendo#591

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tendão" and "tendo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tendão" is a noun and "tendo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tendão" or "tendo"?
"tendo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #591 in our Portuguese list, against #32,401 for "tendão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering tendão vs tendo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “tendão”; for a verb, it's “tendo”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tendão” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list