ténèbres
\te.nɛbʁ\
The verdict
“ténèbres” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #7,913. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #7,913
- frequency rank, French
- 164,488
- “T” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Privation de lumière ; obscurité.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ténèbres |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \te.nɛbʁ\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #7,913 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ténèbres” sits in French frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around ténèbres (IPA \te.nɛbʁ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,913 among 164,488 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for ténèbres, with forms such as "tenebres", "tnéèbres", and "tténèbres". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "teneurs", "ténébreux", "tendres", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is ténèbres, spelled T-É-N-È-B-R-E-S.
Definition
- 1Privation de lumière ; obscurité.
- 2Enfer.
- 3Matines qui se chantent l’après-midi du mercredi, du jeudi et du vendredi de la semaine sainte.
- 4Choses obscures ou incompréhensibles
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- tenebres
- tnéèbres
- tténèbres
- ténbères
- ténnèbres
- ténèbbres
- ténèbers
- ténèbress
- ténèbrres
- ténèbrse
- ténèrbes
- téènbres
- étnèbres
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ténèbres - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "ténèbres"?
What does "ténèbres" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "ténèbres"?
How do you pronounce "ténèbres"?
What language does "ténèbres" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “ténèbres”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-É-N-È-B-R-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \te.nɛbʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “teneurs” - see the side-by-side comparison. ténèbres vs teneurs
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Same frequency band
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.