Which to use
“tendão” is a noun and “tenso” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,401
- “tendão” frequency rank
- #11,362
- “tenso” frequency rank
- 43763
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tendão | tenso |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cordão fibroso, formado por tecido conjuntivo, graças ao qual os músculos se inserem nos ossos ou nos outros órgãos | que está sob tensão; em que há tensão |
Letter map: tendão vs tenso
Shared letters muted; letters that set tendão and tenso apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. tendão runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against tenso's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: tendão vs tenso
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tendão is anoun and tensoanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43763, 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/. tenso is at rank #11,362, tagged as anadj.
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 43763, this pair ranks #21,846 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tendão vs tenso
Shared letters: enot. Private to "tendão": dã. Private to "tenso": s.
"tendão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "tenso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tenso ← etnso · tennso · tenos · tensso · tesno · tneso · ttenso
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tendão" for "tenso" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tendão" or "tenso" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "tendão" vs "tenso" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "tendão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tenso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,846 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tendão" and "tenso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tendão 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 #21,846 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.