Which to use
“tense” is a noun and “tenth” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,752
- “tense” frequency rank
- #8,097
- “tenth” frequency rank
- 15849
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tense | tenth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists. | The ordinal numeral form of ten; next in order after that which is ninth. |
Where the eye mixes tense and tenth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: tense vs tenth
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tense is /tɛns/ while tenth is /tɛnθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15849, 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/. tenth is at rank #8,097, tagged as anadj, pronounced /tɛnθ/.
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 15849, this pair ranks #461,403 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tense vs tenth
Shared letters: ent. Private to "tense": s. Private to "tenth": h.
"tense" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tenth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tense" for "tenth" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tense" vs "tenth" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tense" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tenth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #461,403 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tense" and "tenth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tenth vs Toth". 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 #461,403 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.