# tenses vs terse

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### tenses
*noun · IPA /tɛnsɪz/ · frequency rank #43,957*
plural of tense

### terse
*adjective · IPA /tɜːs/ · frequency rank #43,411*
Of speech or style: brief, concise, to the point.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tenses-vs-terse