tentamvstestarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“tentam” and “testar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,680
“tentam” frequency rank
#5,046
“testar” frequency rank
9726
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tentam testar
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do presente do modo indicativo do verbo tentar deixar em testamento fazer o testamento, testemunhar

Where the eye mixes tentam and testar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tentam and testar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
tentam
6 ch
testar

Visual trap between tentam and testar

A purely visual mix-up. tentam (/ˈtẽ.tɐ̃w̃/ [ˈtẽ.tɐ̃ʊ̯̃]) and testar (/tɨʃ.ˈtaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9726, 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]. testar is at rank #5,046, tagged as averb, pronounced /tɨʃ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 9726, this pair ranks #63,609 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tentam vs testar

Shared letters: aet. Private to "tentam": mn. Private to "testar": rs.

"tentam" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "testar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tentam ← etntam · tenatm · tenntam · tentamm · tentma · tenttam · tetnam · tnetam
  • testar ← etstar · tesatr · tesstar · testarr · testra · testtar · tetsar · tsetar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tentam" and "testar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtẽ.tɐ̃w̃/ [ˈtẽ.tɐ̃ʊ̯̃] versus /tɨʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tentam" or "testar"?
"tentam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,680 in our Portuguese list, against #5,046 for "testar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "tentam" and "testar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tentam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "testar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,609 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tentam" and "testar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tenaz vs tentam". 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 #63,609 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