Which to use
“tense” and “tenses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,752
- “tense” frequency rank
- #43,957
- “tenses” frequency rank
- 51709
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tense | tenses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists. | plural of tense |
Where the eye mixes tense and tenses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tense runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against tenses's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses tense with tenses
A purely visual mix-up. tense (/tɛns/) and tenses (/tɛnsɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tense” sits inside “tenses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tense is recorded at frequency rank #7,752, classified as anoun, pronounced /tɛns/. tenses is at rank #43,957, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɛnsɪz/.
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 51709, this pair ranks #163,198 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tense vs tenses
Shared letters: enst. Private to "tense": -. Private to "tenses": -.
"tense" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tenses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tense" for "tenses" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tense" or "tenses"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "tense" and "tenses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tense" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tenses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,198 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tense" and "tenses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tenner vs tenses". 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 #163,198 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.