tendãovstenhaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#32,401
“tendão” frequency rank
#369
“tenha” frequency rank
32770
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tendão tenha
Definition cordão fibroso, formado por tecido conjuntivo, graças ao qual os músculos se inserem nos ossos ou nos outros órgãos primeira pessoa do singular do presente do conjuntivo do verbo ter

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tendão and tenha apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
tendão
5 ch
tenha

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tendão is anoun and tenhaaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32770, 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/. tenha is at rank #369, 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 32770, this pair ranks #34,929 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tendão vs tenha

Shared letters: ent. Private to "tendão": doã. Private to "tenha": ah.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tenhaetnha · tehna · tenah · tenhha · tennha · tneha · ttenha

Frequency comparison

tendão#32,401
tenha#369

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tendão" and "tenha" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tendão" is a noun and "tenha" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tendão" or "tenha"?
"tenha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #369 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 tenha

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 “tenha”.
  • 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