tentamvstestaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#4,680
“tentam” frequency rank
#7,343
“testa” frequency rank
12023
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tentam testa
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do presente do modo indicativo do verbo tentar parte do rosto humano acima dos olhos e abaixo dos cabelos

Where the eye mixes tentam and testa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tentam runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against testa's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
tentam
5 ch
testa

Look-alike desk: tentam vs testa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tentam is /ˈtẽ.tɐ̃w̃/ [ˈtẽ.tɐ̃ʊ̯̃] while testa is /ˈtɛʃ.tɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tentam is recorded at frequency rank #4,680, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈtẽ.tɐ̃w̃/ [ˈtẽ.tɐ̃ʊ̯̃]. testa is at rank #7,343, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɛʃ.tɐ/.

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 12023, this pair ranks #60,691 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tentam vs testa

Shared letters: aet. Private to "tentam": mn. Private to "testa": s.

"tentam" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "testa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tentam ← etntam · tenatm · tenntam · tentamm · tentma · tenttam · tetnam · tnetam
  • testa ← etsta · tesat · tessta · testta · tetsa · tseta · ttesta

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tentam" for "testa" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tentam" is a verb and "testa" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tentam" or "testa"?
"tentam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,680 in our Portuguese list, against #7,343 for "testa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tentam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "testa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,691 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tentam" and "testa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "testa vs tosa". 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 #60,691 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