tenhamvstensãoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,261
“tenham” frequency rank
#2,913
“tensão” frequency rank
4174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tenham tensão
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do presente do conjuntivo do verbo ter o ato ou efeito de esticar ou forçar algo ao seu limite

Letter map: tenham vs tensão

Shared letters muted; letters that set tenham and tensão apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. tenham (CVCCVC) and tensão (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
tenham
6 ch
tensão

Grammar separator: tenham vs tensão

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tenham is averb and tensãoanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tenham is recorded at frequency rank #1,261, classified as averb. tensão is at rank #2,913, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tẽ.ˈsɐ.ɐ̃w̃/.

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 4174, this pair ranks #70,819 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tenham vs tensão

Shared letters: ent. Private to "tenham": ahm. Private to "tensão": osã.

"tenham" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tensão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tenham ← etnham · tehnam · tenahm · tenhamm · tenhham · tenhma · tennham · tneham

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tenham" and "tensão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tenham" is a verb and "tensão" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tenham" or "tensão"?
"tenham" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,261 in our Portuguese list, against #2,913 for "tensão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "tenham" and "tensão". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tenham" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tensão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,819 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tenham" and "tensão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tengo vs tensão". 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 #70,819 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