tenhavstenorWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#369
“tenha” frequency rank
#33,636
“tenor” frequency rank
34005
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tenha tenor
Definition primeira pessoa do singular do presente do conjuntivo do verbo ter a voz mais aguda dum homem

Letter map: tenha vs tenor

Shared letters muted; letters that set tenha and tenor apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. tenha (CVCCV) and tenor (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
tenha
5 ch
tenor

Part-of-speech tell for tenha / tenor

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tenha is averb and tenoranoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34005, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tenha is recorded at frequency rank #369, classified as averb. tenor is at rank #33,636, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɨ.ˈnoɾ/.

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 34005, this pair ranks #33,369 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tenha vs tenor

Shared letters: ent. Private to "tenha": ah. Private to "tenor": or.

"tenha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tenor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tenha ← etnha · tehna · tenah · tenhha · tennha · tneha · ttenha
  • tenor ← etnor · tennor · tenorr · teonr · tneor · ttenor

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tenha" and "tenor" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tenha" is a verb and "tenor" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tenha" or "tenor"?
"tenha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #369 in our Portuguese list, against #33,636 for "tenor". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "tenha" vs "tenor" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tenha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tenor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,369 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tenha" and "tenor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tengo vs tenor". 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 #33,369 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