tenhovstrechoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#90
“tenho” frequency rank
#3,171
“trecho” frequency rank
3261
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tenho trecho
Definition primeira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo ter espaço de tempo ou de lugar

Letter map: tenho vs trecho

Shared letters muted; letters that set tenho and trecho apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. tenho runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against trecho's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
tenho
6 ch
trecho

Grammar separator: tenho vs trecho

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tenho is averb and trechoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tenho is recorded at frequency rank #90, classified as averb. trecho is at rank #3,171, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'tɾe.ʃu/.

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 3261, this pair ranks #71,906 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tenho vs trecho

Shared letters: ehot. Private to "tenho": n. Private to "trecho": cr.

"tenho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "trecho" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tenho ← etnho · tehno · tenhho · tennho · tenoh · tneho · ttenho
  • trecho ← rtecho · tercho · trceho · treccho · trechho · trecoh · trehco · trrecho

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tenho" for "trecho" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tenho" is a verb and "trecho" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tenho" vs "trecho" - which ranks higher?
"tenho" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #90 in our Portuguese list, against #3,171 for "trecho". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "tenho" vs "trecho" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tenho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trecho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,906 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tenho" and "trecho" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tengo vs tenho". 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 #71,906 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